In warning MP Rob Oakeshott not to support subsidisation of native forest biomass burning for energy, a South Australian scientist: I think it is naive to think that native forest won’t be cut down if this bill is passed. The previous Bill understood this and this condition was put in to protect native forests. Do not remove this protection by claiming it is about “recycling”.
The scientist continues the argument by providing statistics on CO2 emissions from forest removal.
Forty-four (44) Mega tonnes of CO2equivalent was released in 2010 through deforestation and land use change. This increased by over 3% in 2011 to 45 Megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. This is 12% of our total Greenhouse gas emissions per year – from deforestation. ….afforestation and reforestation removes 25 Megatonnes of CO2 equivalent from our environment through the planting of trees and this has not increased from 2010 to 2011. This means that we are cutting down more trees than we are planting each year in Australia.
Waste from Native forest logging was deliberately excluded from the original agreement – to prevent logging of native forests.