Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Climate spokesperson
Today in Parliament the Minister for Climate Change, Roger Jaensch, confirmed he had not bothered reading the first comprehensive study into carbon emissions generated by Tasmania’s native forest logging industry.
Dr Jen Sanger’s report shows native forest logging is Tasmania’s highest carbon emitting sector. Logging and burning native forests releases more than 4.65 million tonnes of carbon every year.
That’s more than two and a half times our entire transport sector.
Forests capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it long-term. This carbon escapes back into the atmosphere when a forest is logged and takes hundreds of years to regain. They are worth more standing.
Minister Jaensch hasn’t read this latest research, yet he’s doubled down on the forest industry’s dodgy figures. He repeated falsehoods trotted out previously to justify an industry that belongs in the dark ages, that don’t take account of the emissions from clearfelling and incinerating native forests.
At this time of rapidly heating climate, it’s frightening Tasmania’s Minister for Climate (and Children and Youth) isn’t interested in the latest science and refuses to meet the report’s author to discuss the details.
We desperately need Minister Jaensch to open his mind and address Tasmania’s number one climate action, to end our vast native forest emissions and protect our state’s carbon stores.