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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
"Road
to Nowhere" to Divide Australia's Largest Temperate Rainforest,
Your
Letters Needed!
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
July
21, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
The
Rainforest Information Centre of Australia reports on a
ludicrous
plan to build a road through the 350,000 Tarkine
wilderness
area located in Tasmania, Australia.
This is being
justified
on the basis of tourism and an estimated use by 10 four
wheel
drive vehicles a day. Likely, it is a
front to open the
area to
mining and logging and scuttle potential plans to have the
area
declared a World Heritage Area. If you
only write one letter
this
year on behalf of the world's forests, this may be the place
to
start. This item was posted in econet's
rainfor.general
conference.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/*
Written 11:55 PM Jul 19, 1995 by
peg:brenth in
igc:rainfor.genera
*/
/*
---------- "TARKINE ACTION ALERT!!" ---------- */
"Road
to nowhere" divides Australia's largest temperate
rainforest.
TARKINE
WORLD HERITAGE VALUES
In the
northwest of Tasmania, Australia, lies one of the world's
most
significant ecological and cultural wonderlands. The
outstanding
qualities of this area have been internationally
recognised
as worthy of World Heritage listing and protection. The
350,000
hectare Tarkine wilderness holds Australia's largest
intact
temperate rainforest along with buttongrass moorlands and
spectacular
coastline. The area is a refuge for endangered
species
including the Tasmanian wedge tailed eagle, white goshawk
and the
largest freshwater crayfish in the world (which grows
to over
1 metre in length).
The
area is named after the Tarkine band of Aborigines who
inhabited
the Sandy Cape region of Tasmania for over 500
generations.
Along the Tarkine's extensive coastline are over 240
known
Aboriginal sites including ancient middens, village hut
places,
rock carvings and secret ceremonial sites.
LOGGING
AND ROADBUILDING THREATEN THE TARKINE
Less
than 1% of the Tarkine wilderness area is protected. In
February
1995 the Tasmanian Government began to build
a 50
kilometre
road through the Tarkine at a total cost to taxpayers
of $15
million. The road, and the access it
provides, leads to
threats
such as of fire, erosion, weed infestation, the
introduction
of feral animals and root rot fungi; all which will
seriously
jeopardise the wilderness value and possible World
Heritage
listing of the area.
According
to the Tasmanian government, the road is being built in
the
name of tourism, for a projected ten 4 wheel drive vehicles
per
day. The largest woodchip mill in the Southern Hemisphere
has
recently opened at nearby Hampshire and logging is already
in
process on the Eastern edges of the Tarkine. Environmentalists
suspicions
as to the real purpose of the road were confirmed by
a
leaked State Department of Transport memo which listed one of
the
objectives of the road as
"infrastructure for mining and
forestry
needs".
Another
leaked memo of a meeting between the Director of Tourism
and the
Department of Roads included mention that " the Department
of
tourism see very little value in the link road". The Hampshire
Woodchip
Mill is set to consume 1.2 million tonnes of trees
annually,
fifty percent more than the notorious Daishowa mill at
Eden,
New South Wales. The mill is owned by North Broken Hill and
employs
only 10 staff.
The
Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator John Faulkner
has
proclaimed the road going through the Tarkine an act of
"environmnetal
vandalism". However he continues to defend the
Federal
Government's failure to stop the roadworks on the basis
of the
Lemonthyme settlement of 1988, when the Commonwealth
agreed
not to propose further areas of Tasmania for World
Heritage
listing without the consent of the State Government.
Yet,
Ternment is breaking the World Heritage Convention. It holds
the
power to stop construction of the road until a Federal
inquiry
examines the the World Heritage values of the Tarkine
(according
to the 1992 Intergovernmental Agreement on the
Environment
which endorses the Commonwealth's powers to
unilaterally
protect places of World Heritage Value.)
Moreover,
other
clauses of the Lemonthyme settlement have already
been
breached.
NATIONAL
CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY
A
national campaign is underway to stop the bulldozing of forests
and
consequent roadbuilding through the Tarkine wilderness. The
campaign
has seen over 18 protests at the roadbuilding site over
the
last 6 months where exavators worked 12 hours a day, 7 days
a week
during the summer. The hundreds of protesters walked over
27kms
to roadbuilding sites in often extreme weather conditions,
reflecting
their level of dedication to protect this unique
wilderness.
Over 50
people have been arrested for trespass including National
Greens
leader Bob Brown, MHA's Christine Milne and Di Hollister,
Australian
Conservation Foundation's Tricia Caswell, Aboriginal
activist
Jim Everett, and 11 other key unionists and
conservationaists.
On May 9th Australia held a nationwide day of
action
and in June the Tarkine National Coalition was formed.
Roadbuilding
temporarily stopped on the 4 wheel drive road
through
the Tarkine on April 13th and was due to recommence when
the
weather cleared in September. However in June, the wettest
period
of the year, workers were flown in and bulldozers
completed
clearing for the 52km road by
demolishing rainforests
in the
Donaldson River Gorge. Gravelling and bridge building is
set to
resume in September.
Forestry
Tasmania also recently announced that 55,000 ha of
rainforest
are to be logged for specialist timbers, mostly in the
Tarkine.
CALL
FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
The
Tarkine needs International support. With Australian Federal
elections
on the horizon for early 1996, now is the crucial time
to put
pressure on the ruling labour government, asking them to
protect
the Tarkine from the Tasmanian government's roadbuilding
and
logging operations and furthermore to nominate the area for
World
Heritage listing.
HELP
PROTECT AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST TRACT OF TEMPERATE RAINFOREST!
Please
Write Letters, such as the following sample:
I am
very concerned with the current news about the activities
undertaken
by the Tasmanian State Liberal Government that
threaten
the World Heritage values of the Tarkine wilderness in
the
State's northwest. Not only is
Australia's largest temperate
rainforest
now threatened with logging for specialist timbers, but
the
same Government is pressing ahead with the construction of a 4
wheel
drive only track through the heart of the wilderness despite
the
fact that your Minister for the Environment, Senator John
Faulkner,
has described the Tasmanian Government's actions as
"environmental
vandalism".
It
certainly will take more than words to stop the mindlessness
and
vindictiveness shown by this State Government towards this
especially
significant natural environment. Your Government is to
be
commended on the recent placement of 350,000 ha of the Tarkine
on the
interim list of the National Estate. However, the
ctivities
that are presently threatening the integrity of the area
should
be stopped before irreparable damage is done.
I
therefore appeal to you Prime Minister to please:
(i)
bring about the necessary measures to prevent the Tasmanian
State
Government from continuing with their actions,
(ii) to
have the Tarkine area assessed for its World Heritage
qualities,and,
(iii)
for the Tarkine area to be nominated by your Government for
World
Heritage status.
Any
actions by your Government that are effective in putting an
immediate
halt to any further road works and any further logging
in the
Tarkine would be applauded. Apparently
the Tasmanian
Government
has a frightening history of destroying valuable
natural
assets. Your Government is now the only hope, to exercise
its
powers to bring about proper protection of the Nation's
significant
forest and wilderness areas, particularly the Tarkine.
Yours
sincerely,
Send
letters to:
Prime
Minister Paul Keating
c/o Parliament
House
Canberra
2601 AUSTRALIA
John
Faulkner
Environment
Minister
c/o
Parliament House
Canberra
2601 AUSTRALIA
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
campaign
use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and
forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely
pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Archives
at URL= http://gaia1.ies.wisc.edu/research/pngfores/
Networked
by:
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Enterprises/ 301K Eagle Heights/ Madison, WI
53705
USA/
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