Coming event 28 Oct 2020
RSVP here to find out more about protecting our forests
BREAKING 1: VicForests has lodged an appeal
VicForests has lodged an appeal and is seeking to overturn Justice Mortimer’s ruling in the recent landmark Federal Court case protecting 66 logging coupes in Victoria’s Central Highlands. You can read more and help support Environmental Justice Australia here.
BREAKING 2: The first Federal Court hearing today (Wed 23 Sep) for the Great Forest case went well.
The Commonwealth, the State of Tasmania and Sus Timber Tasmania attempted to argue the was hypothetical, but Justice Duncan Kerr disagreed and adjourned the case until Friday 2nd October at 2.15 pm. The situation is urgent because the critically endangered Swift Parrot is currently arriving in Tasmania’s forests to feed and breed. Read more here.
Our forests are under threat
Forests host a wealth of biodiversity, harvest water and form a natural buffer against climate change – but they are under threat.
In 2000 the IPCC estimated 1,100 Gt (billion tonnes) of carbon is stored in forests. Amazingly, this amount is more than the carbon stored in fossil fuel reserves (about 800 Gt), and more than the total carbon added to the atmosphere as a consequence of human activities since 1870 (about 600 Gt).
Hear first hand what environmental organisations in Victoria and Tasmania are doing on the ground and in the courts to save our precious forests from destruction. We will also hear what we can do to support the fight.
Our speakers
Steve Meacher is President of Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum and lives in Toolangi. FLP has been fighting VicForest in the courts and has had some recent wins. In 2013 Steve was named the Shire of Murrindindi’s Citizen of the Year. Steve will give a first-hand description of the magnificent Ash and Peppermint forests only a short drive from Melbourne, why they are so precious and why they should be preserved. He will describe his experience resisting logging and fighting VicForests in the courts to save the remaining forest and the precious biodiversity they contain.
Danya Jacobs is a Senior Lawyer with Environmental Justice Victoria and a recipient of the Mahla Pearlman Award for the Australian Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year. Danya works primarily on biodiversity and nature protection, with a focus on public lands, forests and threatened species. Danya is working on forest protection cases in East Gippsland and the Central Highlands. For this event, Danya will focus on the recent cases against VicForests for Friends of the Leadbeater’s possum and WOTCH.
Dr Jennifer Sanger is the Campaign Coordinator for the Great Forest Case at the Bob Brown Foundation. She has a PhD in forest ecology and has a background in research and environmental advocacy. Jen, will provide some background on the amazing work of the Foundation, plus an update on Tassie’s forests – what’s being logged and the species under threat. In particular Jen will focus on the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA), the Great Forest Case and what a win in the courts could mean for other RFA’s across the country.
This online meeting will be held via Zoom on Wed 28 October from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm for participants who register here (link to come). Participants will be able to ask questions via Zoom chat.