AUSTRALIA
To Forest Defenders Everywhere
GOOLENGOOK NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW
As you read this, one of the last and most beautiful tracts of undisturbed temperate rainforest left in Australia is fighting for its existence. Goolengook lies in the forests of far East Gippsland, in the Australian state of Victoria. It contains some of the most biologically and scientifically significant rainforests on Earth.
These forests are amazingly beautiful, and are home to an incredible number of threatened species. The Victorian state Government’s own scientists have written reports recommending protection for the area, but these have been ignored by the Government. The Federal Government has refused to intervene in this state decision, and the Labour Party opposition have also refused to help. This has left us with no choice but to set up a blockade.
The blockade, while it has been successful in some ways has not stopped the logging, and the situation is now becoming desperate. The Australian media are no longer interested in reporting forest issues, and both our major political parties have an agreed policy of supporting logging. We need the world to know what it will lose if Goolengook is destroyed. We need your help to get the message out.
It may be that international pressure will focus the attention of our politicians in a way that other strategies have failed to do. Now that they have eliminated the fear of losing their seats over forest issues, by committing both parties to the same destructive domestic policies, this may be the only avenue open to us. Ordinary Australians, who are opposed to the woodchipping of their forests, will not be angered by any damage which may be done to Australia’s international image, as a result of publicity created by the actions of green groups like your own. Opinion polls have consistently shown that 80% of Australians want forests like Goolengook to be protected, but we may need your help to convince our politicians to take this issue seriously. Please stand with us on this matter!
The Government’s own scientists who surveyed the area now scheduled for logging, had this to say about its significance.
"It offers the best opportunity in Victoria for the preservation of cool temperate rainforest, warm temperate rainforest, and overlap rainforest, in three adjacent and intact catchments."(1)
The same scientific report notes on another page that Goolengook is also considered "a site of international significance for rainforest values". Translated into everyday language, this means that it is one of the most significant forest sites in the entire world. People in the rest of the world have a right to know about this. It concerns everyone on the Planet.
The next six months will determine whether Goolengook is saved or whether it is lost forever. Please tell your friends, tell your green groups, and tell your Governments. Please come and help us defend the area if you possibly can. Time is running very short for this wondrous and magical place. Please help us now.
REFERENCE:
(1) Ecological Survey Report No 35. Flora And Fauna of the Goolengook Forest Block East Gippsland Victoria. Victorian State Department of Conservation and Environment. 1991.
CONTACT:
FoE National Forest Liaison Office
Chloe Beevers and Cameron Price forestnat@foe.org.au