Indonesia: New APP Wood Procurement Policy
1 February 2005
Asia Pulp and Paper’s (APP) has announced that its
new pulp mill in Hainan will not accept wood from old-growth
forests or tropical forests that have high conservation
value. As part of the new policy,
APP has cancelled orders of wood chips from Tasmania and
southern Australia. The company also announced
its intentions to only support legal and environmentally
sound plantation development and wood supply in Cambodia.
FOREST
CERTIFICATION WATCH... |
| MORE
ON THE TOXIC STATE OF TASMANIA - ALONG WITH ROADKILL
PIE..... A TOURIST CULTURAL WONDERLAND |
Between
devil and deep blue sea
By SIMON BEVILACQUA - 30 January 2005
.......Devils are known colloquially as "Nature's
Garbo". They eat dead animals -- roadkill, sheep,
possums, wallabies. Their diet must be consistently
laced with poisons. Almost
100,000 native animals were killed by 1080 in Tasmania
in the 2003-04 financial year. Perhaps half a million
native animals, mostly Bennetts and Rufous wallabies
and brushtail possums, have been killed by 1080 since
1997-98. Studies show the poison in a wallaby carcass
is not enough to kill devils. But the long-term impact
of a diet laced with poisons is less well known.
Testing for effects of chronic exposure to herbicides,
pesticides and synthetic chemicals is extremely difficult.
Even if the Devil Disease Project finds evidence of
poisons in devils it is far from a causal link to
cancer. Devils are likely
to have been exposed to a chemical cocktail over the
past quarter of a century........
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
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Doctors fear chemical link to child
disease
By Claire Miller - January 30, 2005
A surge in cancer and neurological
cases in north-eastern Tasmania since 2002 is consistent
with chronic low-level chemical exposure, says a
report to be submitted to the federal Australian
Medical Association next month. The Tasmanian
AMA has charted the rise for the first time and
wants expert opinion from the AMA's public health
committee. The report says Tasmania has health anomalies
including a sudden jump in childhood cancers and
higher-than-average premature births. It says cases
documented around St Helens, on the east coast,
in particular are symptomatic of possible chemical
exposure. The report says a rise in neurological
illnesses, reproductive and gastrointestinal cancers
around St Helens is statistically significant over
and above what might be expected through population
increases alone. The rise
coincides with the expansion of timber plantations
in the catchment that supplies drinking water.
Plantations are sprayed with chemicals during establishment
to kill weeds and grasses. The local Break O'Day
Council, helicopter operators, the Health Department
and the Department of Primary Industries, Water
and Environment have identified at least a dozen
herbicides in use or detected around St Helens since
2002. Many are known or possible carcinogens or
hormone disrupters.......
THE
MELBOURNE AGE...
• INCIDENCE
OF CANCERS GRAPH...
Studies show link to poison
By SIMON BEVILACQUA - 30 January 2005
NON-HODGKIN'S lymphoma is commonly linked to pesticides
and herbicides. Rates of NH lymphoma in humans skyrocketed
in recent decades -- from a rarity to a common condition.
One in 66 Aussie men and one in 88 women will develop
NH lymphoma. NH lymphoma affects white blood cells
or lymphocytes which multiply uncontrollably. Scientists
theorise that the disease killing Tasmanian devils
may also be linked to the use of herbicides and
pesticides in Tasmanian forests. Some of the studies
linking chemicals with NH lymphoma included:......
SUNDAY
TASMANIAN...
Tassie disease jump under microscope
By SUE BAILEY - 31 January 2005
THE link between an increase in cancer and chemical
exposure on Tasmania's East Coast will be investigated
by a powerful federal medical committee. The Tasmanian
branch of the Australian Medical Association has
prepared a report detailing the rise in cancer,
neurological illnesses and premature births for
the AMA's public health committee. There has been
a big jump in the incidence of digestive-tract cancers,
including of the stomach and rectum, and a sixfold
rise in the incidence of endocrine and reproductive
cancers. [SEE INCIDENCE
OF CANCERS GRAPH] ..... Tasmanian Greens acting
leader Tim Morris said the State Government's testing
regime was "pathetic". "We need to
know what is making these people sick," Mr
Morris said. "A zero reading in a test doesn't
mean that the chemicals are not there. "It
may mean the test is not sensitive enough to pick
up the chemical.".......
HOBART
MERCURY...
----------------
• .....This state is
neither clean nor green - in fact Tasmania has the
highest incidence of cancer in a country, Australia,
that has one of the highest incidences of cancer
in the world.....
WATER
TASMANIA...
----------------
• THE CHEMICAL BOY'S
CLUB - Briefing Note - Tasmanian Premier and Minister
for Forests
How the Tasmanian Government,
Forestry
Tasmania & North
Forest Products (since purchased by Gunns)
colluded in assisting Ciba-Geigy
to keep the carcinogen Atrazine ON the shelves in
Tasmania, when in the USA, the EPA was under pressure
to review Atrazine.
THE
CHEMICAL BOYS CLUB BRIEFING NOTE...
----------------
• TASMANIA, THE ROADKILL
STATE - COME TO TASMANIA and see the wildlife -
squashed flat and flyblown in the middle of the
road....
THE
LAUNCESTON EXAMINER... (16 March 2003)
----------------
• MENU
For YANG'S ROADKILL CAFE
• ROADKILL
DIP RECIPE
• WANTED
- TRADITIONAL TASMANIAN RECIPE FOR ROADKILL
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The Rape of Tasmania
Elizabeth Cage - January 26, 2005
I recently read this year-old article about the destruction
of old-growth forests in Tasmania by novellist Richard Flanagan
(Gould's Book of Fish) and thought Oregonians involved in
environmental issues might find it an interesting look at
a similar fight in a similar place on the other side of
the world.....
BLUE
OREGON...
------------
More of Elizabeth Cage
John
Howard Kisses W's Butt |
| THE
TOXIC STATE OF TASMANIA |
Devil
deaths link to toxin
Matthew Denholm - January 22, 2005
SCIENTISTS suspect chemicals used by farmers and foresters
could be the catalyst for the cancer that has halved
the population of Tasmanian devils. ...... Researchers
with the Devil Facial Disease Project said yesterday
the mysterious facial tumours appeared to be linked
to genetic factors. Tests will now examine whether,
when combined with this genetic handicap, toxins trigger
the disease, which has roughly halved Tasmania's devil
population to 75,000, with more deaths threatened.
....... A cocktail of chemicals
is possibly to blame, the report says.
THE
AUSTRALIAN...
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Tasmanian
devil tumour disease spreading
Friday, January 21, 2005
A facial tumour disease is continuing to ravage Tasmania's
wild devils, with almost half of the devil population
believed lost to the disease. Fears the disease is
spreading have been realised with three new cases
discovered in the south of the state.......
ABC
ONLINE...
Fears devil disease will affect ecology
Saturday, January 22, 2005
There is major concern that the Tasmanian devil facial
tumour disease, which has killed almost half of the
wild devil population in just five years, will have
a dramatic impact on Tasmania's ecosystems......
ABC
ONLINE...
Greens call for ban on 1080, triazines
25 January 2005
BANS on 1080 and triazine chemicals were needed to
help save Tasmanian devil, the Tasmanian Greens said
yesterday. Fears that man-made toxins were a possible
cause of the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease
prompted the call. The latest progress report on the
disease said a trial to test for a range of toxins
would begin. Veterinary pathologist Stephen Pyecroft
said chemicals could cause cancer on their own or
in combination......
HOBART
MERCURY...
Sympathy for the devil
By Brian Courtis - January 26, 2005
The Parers' latest documentary sheds light on a much-maligned
creature. Brian Courtis reports. ........ Terrors
of Tasmania airs on the ABC on Wednesday at 8.30pm.
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD... |
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FUNDRAISER FOR GUNNS 20 |
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| HELP
NEEDED URGENTLY - SOS FOR THE SOUTH SISTER |
DEATH of an ICON
BY Dr. Frances Daily - 19 January 2004
The South Sister, 831 m above sea level is a few km
north of St. Marys, Tasmania. This mountain is a local
icon which was first named by the English Explorer
in 1778, Tobias Furneaux and later painted by the
French Navigator Nicolas Baudin in 1802. It is also
a local recreation and tourist destination being a
favourite place for bushwalking, rock climbing, horse
riding and bird watching. Magnificent 360 degrees
are seen from the summit with views as far as Flinders
Island on a clear day, Freycinet Peninsula in the
south and Ben Lomond and beyond to the west.
Forestry Tasmania plan to selectively log 120 hectares
of marvelous bush on this mountain beginning mid February
2005. The local residents are in need of your help
to try and preserve this rich and biodiverse area.
The mountain has numerous springs which provide water
to many residents nestled under the mountain in German
Town, Dublin Town and Gardiners Creek Road. The water
is used for both domestic (including hydroelectricity
generation) and agricultural/horticultural use. St.
Marys' water supply is also reliant on this area with
a fault line running between the coupe and the bore
which provides St. Marys water supply. The Forest
Practices Code makes no provision for groundwater
and have incorrectly identified St. Marys water source
as the Newman's Creek.
Numerous threatened species are found on the coupe
or within the surrounding area. The Blind Velvet Worm
with a habitat of only 159 sq km in the world has
been found on this coupe! Its habitat of rotting logs
and moist environment will be destroyed from logging
and the subsequent burning of the coupe. The Giant
Velvet Worm, is found adjacent to the coupe with the
line of parapatry (geographical line separating the
two species) running through the coupe. Wedge tail
eagles are seen daily flying around this area, Swift
parrots have been recently confirmed on the coupe
and Grey Goshawks are often seen flying in the general
vicinity. The understorey is perfect habitat for the
rare spotted tailed quoll and other mammals and birds
living on the coupe and in the area. The rare Euphrasia
collina ssp deflexifolia is found all over the coupe
and numerous other threatened floral species are found
in the general area. Six moths not previously recorded
in a Tasmanian National Park have been recorded on
the coupe in 2004 and 178 lichen species were identified
on the adjacent South Sister Summit in only one day.
The area is a well known landslip area and any logging
to the area is likely to lead to more landslips. Logging
will threaten the numerous water sources (reduced
quality and quantity) perhaps leaving some residents
with major problems. Habitat for birds, mammals and
invertebrates will be destroyed with the logging and
subsequent burning of the remainder.
We need your help. Please send a donation to
the Save our Sisters group in St. Marys to assist
us in the fight to save this unique area. All of those
visiting the area - scientists, other experts and
the general public are surprised to see such a diverse
understorey, such a range of flora and consider it
to be vastly different to other parts of Tasmania.
SEE www.SouthSister.org
for more information. |
|
IMAGES OF GUNNS 20 FILING AN APPEARANCE
MELBOURNE SUPREME COURT - 14 January 2005
• THE
AUSTRALIAN, REPORT - 14 Jan 05 |
| A SMORGASBORD
OF TASMANIA IN... TREE NEWS - UK |
A Tale of Tasmania: green paradise
or clear-cut destruction?
By John May, UK and Claire Scobie, Australia
Tree News tells the story of this divided island,
the true nature of clearcutting Tasmania style and
the politics behind it. We profile the remarkable
Eucalyptus regnans, investigate the death of
El Grande, meet the Giant Trees Consultative Committee,
report on the battle to save the Styx Valley and interview
the Tasmanian Minister of Forests. [More
on Minister Bryan Green who is also the Log Truck
Minister, below] |
.....people cross the street to avoid passing a
neighbour from the opposie camp. Loggers and environmentalists
drink in different pubs and refuse to travel on the
same buses. Australian Senator Bill Heffernan told
Four Corners that he had met people who had received
death threats over the issue ......... Since giving
evidence Manning's character has been publicly vilified
and he no longer talks to the press. ....... Plantations
and clearcuts are becoming more visible to tourists,
as the annual burnoffs of clearcuts send mammoth clouds
of smoke over the landscape, and fleets of giant logging
lorries barrel down inadequate highways. .........
English Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker is calling
for British tourists to boycott Tasmania ....... Norman
Baker told Tree News, "If a civilised and respected
country like Australia cannot control its forest activities
better than this, what hope is there for countries
like India and Brazil?".....
TREE
NEWS..... http://www.treenews.org.uk/latest/index.php
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| "I'm throwing
you a lifeline", said the Judge |
10 January 2005 by Gordon Craven - plaintiff in
person
A Tasmanian tale of how a politician, a newspaper
and a journalist, with teams of lawyers in Launceston
and Sydney get thrown a lifeline by the judge, when
a litigant in person starts to win.
AND
Why the trial is shaping up to
be an interesting event
• FABRICATION OF PROPOSED EVIDENCE
- (reporter Heather Long / Examiner
Newspaper)
• THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE MERCURY
NEWSPAPER - (alleged threat / reporter Sue Bailey)
• THE INVOLVEMENT OF TOURISM
TASMANIA - (alleged graft & deceit / Robert
Hogan General Manager, Communications and Information
Technology)
CRAVEN
-v- HIDDING / EXAMINER / ALCOCK - DEFAMATION UPDATE... |
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Paradise regained?
Saturday January 1, 2005
Penny Green finds Nicholas Shakespeare's investigation
into settlers In Tasmania produces an interesting result
In Tasmania
.......Tasmania is an enigmatic place and Shakespeare captures
it with an appreciative eye - coastal, remote and deeply
beautiful, with still largely unexplored ancient rainforests,
perfect bays, mountains, lakes and pure white, glistening
beaches. But in many ways Tasmania is as much about extinction
and loss as it is about unique wilderness and physical beauty.
Its remoteness gives cover to a dark history and a careless
and corrupt present that is only alluded to in
the book. The near genocide of
the Tasmanian Aborigines, the forced extinction of the thylacine
or Tasmanian tiger, followed by the criminal
destruction of unique old-growth forests by logging companies,
a dramatic decline in the islander occupation of mutton-birding
and the perpetual haemorrhage of Tasmania's young people
to pastures more alluring - all mark a
persistent inability by those governing Tasmania to value
its environment. The logging issue is the most
important. For more than 30 years
Tasmania has been squandering its greatest asset - the exotic
old-growth forests of eucalyptus, myrtle, sassafrass, leatherwood
and celery-top pine. The destruction of these rainforests
through clear-felling and napalm in the interests of corporate
profit is an obscenity. The wealth has not trickled
down into the state's economy and Tasmania remains the poorest
of Australia's eight states and territories, its rate of
unemployment the highest.......
THE
GUARDIAN - (UK) |
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TASMANIA,
THE PREMIER LOG TRUCK STATE OF AUSTRALIA
Because of the culture of cover up of Tasmanian forest
practices, log truck accidents are increasingly rarely reported
and statistics are very hard to get hold of. The word "accident"
is not used by the industry, code words or numbers are used
instead. Log trucks are notorious for tipping over and drivers
are pushed to the limit to meet industry demands and oppression.
|
Log truck row rolls on
By ROHAN WADE - 22 December 2004
LOG trucks should be limited to 80km/h during the Christmas
period in the interests of road safety, the Greens said
yesterday. ........ The Transport Workers Union and the
State Government also rejected the call, saying it was merely
a thinly disguised attack on the forestry industry. Greens
Bass MHA Kim Booth said Infrastructure Minister Bryan Green
was ignoring advice of an engineer, Wolfgang Wissman, who
recommended log trucks have their load heights reduced from
4.3m to 3.8m to reduce weight and have a maximum speed of
80km/h to reduce rollover risk. .......... Mr Booth said
North Forest Products was preparing to adopt Mr Wissman's
recommendations of its own accord before it was bought by
Gunns
Ltd........
HOBART
MERCURY...
==================
Log truck dispute rolls on
24 December 2004
The Tasmanian Government has rejected claims it is ignoring
a dangerous log truck problem in the state. Greens infrastructure
spokesman Kim Booth says he recently obtained the minutes
of a forestry transport sector safety meeting last year.
He says the minutes reveal serious log truck instability
issues and air bag suspension failure are causing log trucks
to overturn........
ABC
ONLINE...
• SEE
SOME OF THE PROBLEMS WITH DRIVING IN TASMANIA...
• SEE
SOME MORE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH DRIVING IN TASMANIA...
• TAS
GREENS... Truck Safety Blind Spot For Minister Green.
All Care And No Responsibility Attitude Continues
The Tasmanian Greens today further pursued Minister Green
over his inaction on addressing Heavy Vehicle safety, questioning
the minister, whether Coronial inquiries into recent fatalities
involving log trucks rolling or tipping, would be informed
of the findings of independent engineer Wolfgang Wissman
into the likelihood of such events, and if not, why not?
Greens Opposition Infrastructure spokesperson Kim Booth
MHA also questioned the Minister as to whether Transport
Inspectors were attending the scene of all heavy vehicle
roll overs, or only those involving injuries or fatalities,
and further moved a motion calling on the Minister to provide
a copy Mr Wissman’s report into Heavy Vehicle stability
to all drivers, contractors and industry stakeholders. “The
Minister, Bryan Green, refuses to provide to the parliament
answers to serious questions regarding heavy vehicle safety,
and nor will he address concerns that heavy vehicle incidents
have almost doubled from this time last year,” Mr Booth
said. “There are also outstanding concerns over whether
transport inspectors are now only inspecting accidents scenes
which involve serious injury or fatalities rather than all
accidents involving heavy vehicles.”...... |
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