The Fight for Tasmania’s Old Growth

Written by Japhet

Most people aren’t really aware of the battle thats been raging for years in Tasmania around saving some of the oldest trees on earth. The forests on the Australian province are some of the most beautiful eucalyptus stands in the world. They’re also some of the oldest — almost 200 years old. Community members and activists banned together to help defend the Weld Valley, a World Heritage value forest. Part of UNESCO’s World Heritage purpose is to, “help States Parties safeguard World Heritage properties by providing technical assistance and professional training.” From the looks of the clearcuts in the video below, I can’t really see how they’re helping do anything but decimate the very forest they were supposed to “safeguard.” Check out the Huon Valley Environment website for more details and give’em some support!

Also, checkout RAN’s campaign to help save Tassie’s remaining old growth forests from logging by Gunns Inc.

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Posted on 2 February 2007

Tags: agribusiness

About the Author

After a lifetime on the East Coast and getting stuck in the Midwestern suburbs of Chicago and northern Michigan I'm finally on the West Coast in the always cool and never hot city of San Francisco. Japhet worked for various outdoor organizations before becoming a member of Howard Dean's webteam (a lowly online organizer) in Burlington, Vermont. Afterwards, he continued his election work with America Coming Together in Madison, Wisconsin where he helped increase voter turnout to the highest in state history. Now, coming back to this environmental and corporate ethics roots, Japhet is excited to put his skills to use for Rainforest Action Network.

Read other posts by Japhet