Deforestation pledge hits chord

One of the State’s leading forestry representatives has welcomed the decision by world leaders to end deforestation by 2030. Forest Industries Federation of WA chief executive Adele Farina has hailed the decision made at the recent UN climate change conference in Glasgow to halt deforestation by the end of the decade. The Deforestation Pledge was signed by 124 nations, including Australia, and seeks to reverse damage done to the world’s forests and scale back the effects of climate change in the future. Ms Farina said the pledge showed how important it was for WA to have a sustainable forest management plan, which she said was not the same as deforestation. “This pledge outlines just how important sustainable forest management is in the fight against climate change, underpinning the significance of our industry,” she said. “Sustainable forest management is not deforestation — any areas of forest harvested are regenerated, we regenerate every tree we use, and we are proud of that sustainable model.” Ms Farina said the State Government’s decision to end the native forestry industry would undercut the deforestation pledge and WA “needed to get on board” with world leaders regarding sustainable forestry practices. “We warned at the time that this decision (to end native logging) would result in an increased reliance on imported timbers from countries with less sustainable practices than ours,” she said. However this stance by FIFWA’s chief executive has been criticised by a leading forestry environmentalist who said the industry was contributing to the carbon emissions it claimed to be reducing. WA Forest Alliance convenor Jess Beckerling said native forest logging added to carbon in the atmosphere and the 2024 ban by the State Government was the right call.