Panicked Farmers Cut Queensland, Australia Trees
12/8/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Panicked Farmers Cut QUEENSLAND Trees
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 8, 1999
BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia, December 8, 1999 (ENS) - Australian
officials may face a revolt if they impose an immediate ban to stop
rapid tree clearing by Queensland farmers anxious about pending land
protection measures.
Farmers fear that planned restrictions in the Regional Forest
Agreement (RFA) could force them off their property. At a panicked
pace, they have removed more than 300,000 hectares (1,158 square
miles) of native vegetation, officials said.
The Queensland state government today introduced legislation to
restrict the ability of the farmers to clear native vegetation on
freehold land. The new law aims to stop what has escalated to be
among the highest rates of forest clearance in the world. It is
intended to prevent further loss of habitat and limit the state's
contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
Farming groups have reacted angrily to the legislation, vowing to
defend their right to clear their land if they choose to, and are
considering legal action against the government. The measures have
also pitted the state and Commonwealth governments against each
other.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who heads a Labor government, hopes
to negotiate an agreement with farmers and conservationists by
Friday.
Expressing the opposition party view, Deputy National Party Leader
Lawrence Springborg said the government should introduce a voluntary
code of practice for farmers instead of regulating tree clearing. He
has requested an independent economic assessment of tree clearing
before any regulations are imposed.
"I'm calling on the Premier today to rule out any possibility of
introducing an overnight moratorium on tree clearing," Springborg
told journalists.
The government's planned tree clearing legislation is as much a
decision about the survival of rural communities as it is about the
environment, said Australian Conservation Foundation executive
director Don Henry.
"The whole viability of rural communities is threatened because of
land degradation in southern Australia. People are having to walk off
the land because the land has become so salty they can't make a
living," Henry said.
Scientists have evidence that bulldozing native trees will cause
widespread salt poisoning of the land, where native trees had
previously taken up the salty groundwater, Henry said.
"Queensland's got a unique opportunity to learn from those tragic
mistakes and protect the viability of rural livelihoods by ceasing
excessive tree clearing," he said.
This week, the Queensland cabinet is considering the new laws to
control land clearing. Premier Beattie intends to ask Federal
Environment Minister Robert Hill for $100 million dollars in federal
funding to help Queensland farmers protect native vegetation and
farming productivity.