LOOPHOLE LETDOWN: HOW AUSTRALIA’S NATURE LAWS ARE FAILING OUR FORESTS

By Dr Kita Ashman, Threatened Species and Climate Adaptation Ecologist, WWF-Australia 

This week, there are some important debates going on between politicians about the future of our nature laws. So, here’s a forest-themed case study in New South Wales that highlights how these laws are failing nature and one simple loophole we could close that would go a long way towards better forest futures. 

You might remember us talking about Tallaganda State Forest, located on Ngarigo Country, about an hour southeast of Canberra. With vast areas surviving the 2019-20 bushfires, this state forest has become a vital refuge from the impacts of global heating, allowing species and landscapes to regenerate. It’s a stronghold for many threatened native species and is especially important for the survival of the Endangered greater glider.   

Despite Tallaganda providing critical habitat for at least 31 threatened species listed under Australia's nature laws - that’s 16 federally listed threatened birds, eight listed plants, one listed frog, five listed mammals, and one listed reptile - the New South Wales Government has allowed its forestry corporation to devastate this habitat for things like wood chips, wood pallets and firewood.  

You might be thinking, “we're in the middle of an extinction crisis AND a climate crisis, so how can our nature laws possibly still let this logging happen?” The answer is pretty simple; it was never even assessed in the first place. 

Native forest logging is done under something called a ‘Regional Forest Agreement’ or RFA. These agreements create a loophole in our current national environment laws – the EPBC Act – that allows logging to happen without assessment under federal legislation. Which is absolutely bananas to me, given that Australia has committed to no new extinctions and ending and reversing deforestation and forest degradation (COP26).  

Basically, no matter how many threatened species live in a forest, if we have Regional Forest Agreements, our national nature laws won’t even look at the impact logging has.  

All things considered, it’s a pretty bleak time to be a tree. To make matters worse, the logging industry often operates at a financial loss and, as a result, is subsidised by millions of taxpayer’s dollars. That means the taxes we pay are being used to support this industry that is destroying critical habitats like Tallaganda, pushing species like the greater glider closer to extinction, and exacerbating the impacts of global heating by cutting down trees that could otherwise be drawing down and storing carbon.  

If, like me, this makes your blood boil, let our leaders know. 

This week, while our elected leaders are discussing the future of our national nature laws and deciding whether to remove loopholes like RFA exemptions, you can help us protect the future of our native forests.

Add your voice to the calls of concerned individuals and communities demanding to fix these loopholes and establish strong new nature laws - laws that can actually protect threatened species and forests for future generations to come.