The new Australian Government led by Tony Abbott has pledged to unwind the historic Tasmanian Forest Agreement and cancel the nomination of a new World Heritage area.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott wants to remove protection from about 170,000 hectares of land in the central highlands of Tasmania that was recently added to the World Heritage Area in June this year by UNESCO.
The 170,000 hectare agreement was part of an historic peace deal between environmentalists and the timber industry, which took nearly three years to negotiate.
The agreement would see old growth forests areas in the Upper Florentine and areas within the Styx, Huon, Picton and Counsel River Valley.
Tasmanian Forest Agreement signatories, including forestry, union and conservation groups, said the agreement would provide certainty and security for industry growth and end forest conflict.
It is unclear if Abbott can reverse a World Heritage listing with environmentalists adamant it has occurred only twice before, in Germany and Oman.
Demand that Tony Abbott preserves the Tasmanian Forest Agreement!
Save the water supply of Sydney from mining
Expansion of underground coal mining could see the water catchment areas of Sydney experiencing long-term and irreversible damage.
Illawarra Coal, a subsidiary of BHP Billiton, operates a coal mine under the streams and upland swamps that drain into areas that feed in to Sydney’s Prospect Reservoir.
The clean drinking water from the catchment supplies around 4.5 million people in the Sydney area.
Scientists are concerned that underground coal mining is draining not only the swamps but all of the water from the catchment area.
When it was first noticed that water levels had dropped in the swamps it was argued that Sydney was in a drought period.
However, scientists found evidence to suggest that the water actually vanishes underground as a result of the mine as it was found that the water lost from the surface makes its way through a system of cracks down to the mine and is completely lost.
Any future planned underground coal mines will significantly impact on Sydney’s water catchment levels. Please sign the petition and save Sydney’s water supply!
