Forestry misses out in carbon announcementFriday 22 Jul 2011 In response to the announcement on Australia’s Carbon Price Scheme, Australia’s forest industry body, the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) said that forestry has been snubbed by the Government’s Clean Energy Future announcements. Allan Hansard, from AFPA, said that “the government has acknowledged that forestry is a carbon positive industry yet it has been ignored, and in some cases disadvantaged by the announcement".“Firstly, tree plantations that are grown for wood as well as carbon are excluded from the much lauded Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) despite providing the greatest potential to soak up significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as providing much needed “home grown wood” and regional jobs. If commercial forestry was allowed to participate in the CFI it could sequester an additional 12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2020 and help fill the looming shortage of sawn timber in Australia. “Secondly, no renewable energy produced from native forest biomass - not even sawmill offcuts – will be eligible for renewable energy credits. This announcement has jeopardised several major projects which would have employed Australians in regional areas and created renewable energy to offset coal fired power generation. “Thirdly, the government has allocated almost AU$1 billion funding for “forest protection projects” which could see well managed production forests locked-up and weeds, pests and wildfires allowed to flourish. “The government has repeatedly stated that it is relying on science to underpin its decision to introduce the carbon price measures. Meanwhile, it is ignoring what leading scientists are saying on forests. For example, the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment report said “In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.” “Industry can only assume that these announcements have been made to obtain agreement by the Greens and without a full understanding as to the effect these decisions will have on the future of Australia’s forest industry, regional jobs or indeed climate change. The AFPA will be seeking meetings with key Ministers and Government members of forestry electorates to seek changes to these decisions.” |
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