Tasmanian Forest success

GetUp news

Exciting news: yesterday 430,000 hectares of Tasmania's magnificent native forests, including spectacular areas such as the Blue Tier, Tarkine, Upper Florentine and Styx were announced for immediate protection by Prime Minister Juila Gillard and Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings.

Just weeks ago it looked as though the forests would only be declared 'informal reserves' -- but now those forests will be protected from logging by a legally binding Conservation Agreement, which can only be removed by both houses of Federal parliament.

The Federal Government has also ruled out providing any funds for Gunns' proposed pulp mill. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have fought long and hard for over thirty years to see these forests saved, especially through community groups and conservation groups such as Environment Tasmania, The Wilderness Society and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Congratulations to the tens of thousands of you who over the last two weeks have written to the Prime Minister calling on her to give the forests immediate legal protection. As a result of that pressure, combined with the work of other groups and the parliamentary Greens, the forests that go into informal reserves will also be given additional protection by a legally binding Conservation Agreement.

Many forests, including high conservation value forests on public and private land remain threatened. There still remains a lot of work to do before we can feel secure that Tassie's forests have received the permanent and lasting protection they deserve as globally significant treasures. The Federal and State Governments have committed a total of $276 million to deliver the agreement, including funds to manage the new forest reserves and to initiate regional development opportunities.

Our ongoing efforts will be required to ensure the passage of the National Park legislation through the Tasmanian parliament. We will also need to keep the pressure on Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to make sure all 572,000 hectares of Tasmania's high conservation value native forests are permanently protected, including giving the globally significant areas World Heritage status.