Conservation Cools the Planet

All the current research shows that clearing native forests, especially old-growth, releases more carbon into the atmosphere than a newly growing forest could ever re-absorb. The Stern Report went into this, and on his visit to Australia he made it very clear that one of the best things we could do to mitigate dangerous climate change in Australia is to stop logging native forests. Huge amounts of carbon are stored in the soil and roots in old-growth forests.
Eucalyptus regnans forests, which make up the bulk of old forests left in Tasmania, have recently been found to be the most effective old trees for storing carbon in the soil, even more so than the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere.
Even the Tasmanian Government (through their draft climate change strategy) has admitted that the bulk of the state's greenhouse gas emissions (25%) come from land clearing (which is mostly caused by Forestry).
Protecting Tassie's native forests is one of the easiest and most effective things to do in the face of dangerous climate change. It's so easy! It's just a shame both parties are so easily bullied by forestry industry and unions.