Page 3574 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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Plantation forests typically do not support this same rich diversity of flora and fauna. Most plantations are a monoculture of trees selected for their ability to grow quickly. The plantations in the ACT are fairly sterile. I know some members have spent some time in the plantations. You might see the occasional kangaroo, perhaps a black cockatoo, even a rabbit occasionally but, sadly, not much else.
The second point I make is that, while sustainable plantations forests have their uses, I do not want to emphasise them as a sound climate change mitigation measure. There is no substitute for reducing fossil fuel use, which needs to be our main focus. Nor do I believe that plantation forests should be considered an offset for fossil fuel use. The ACT Climate Change Council agrees. The council has provided advice to me in my capacity as climate change minister that planting forests is not a valid or secure offset as the plantations are susceptible to problems like fire, or insects, or diseases, which will cause their carbon to be released.
In fact, we are currently planting Ingledene Forest because it was previously destroyed in the 2003 bushfires. The carbon stored in the trees in Ingledene would have been released into the atmosphere as greenhouse emissions. Of course we need to be increasingly mindful of that risk as climate change advances and the number of high-risk bushfire days increases. Replanting Ingledene Forest is still a good initiative, for several reasons, but we do not think we should be saying climate change mitigation is one of them. That land cannot be used for much else.
There are uses for plantation wood. The new plantation forests can help support our sustainable plantation forestry operations in our region. As Ms Cody’s motion notes and as members will have heard me say numerous times before, plantation forests also create a good environment for recreational activities like mountain biking and trail running. Many of the trails enjoyed by riders and runners in the ACT are actually in our plantation forests, in Madura and Kowen and increasingly perhaps around Cotter reserve and those areas. I do not agree, though, that we should be talking about Ingledene as a significant climate change mitigation measure. As I said, our focus should be on reducing fossil fuels and making permanent reductions.
Greenhouse gas emissions held by trees are at risk of being returned to the atmosphere by bushfires, logging or other events. The focus needs to be on reducing emissions in the key sectors outlined in our new climate strategy. I welcome Ms Cody’s positive comments about that today and I agree with many of the points she made in that space. Those areas of challenge, of course, are primarily transport and gas as these are more permanent solutions. Of course, if wood from the forest is used in buildings, furniture or other longer term uses then the remaining carbon in those trees is locked away, that is, until they are burned or otherwise break down at which time they will release the carbon back into the atmosphere. This is a short-term carbon storage and carbon reduction compared to reducing fossil fuel use.
That is not to say that we cannot also look into replanting and developing carbon sinks—and there is an action in the new climate change strategy related to this—but we need to be careful. Another method of developing a carbon sink that is likely to be more permanent is to enrich and improve soils. Nationwide, there are better mitigation
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