MEDIA RELEASE
2 February, 2010
Opposition Can’t See The Wood For The 20 Million Trees
9.3 Billion Tonnes Of Carbon In Old Forests Ignored In Climate Policy
The Federal Opposition has missed a golden opportunity to focus on the huge stores of carbon in
Australia’s remaining old growth native forests as part of its plan to reduce greenhouse emissions, The
Wilderness Society said today.
The carbon benefit of planting 20 million trees will not be realised until the trees mature and is also
dwarfed by the iconic eucalypt forests of south east Australia, where the average amount of carbon
stored is about 640 tonnes per hectare, The Wilderness Society’s climate change negotiator Peg Putt
said.
World first research from the Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU in 2008 found that
around 9.3 billion tonnes of carbon can be stored in the 14.5 million hectares of natural eucalypt forests
in south-east Australia if they are left undisturbed.
“Australia’s unlogged iconic eucalypt forests in the south east of Australia are among the most carbon
dense in the world, but the Opposition has completely overlooked them in its climate change policy.
“Planting 20 million trees sounds nice but it will be many years before they make any real contribution
to reducing emissions. The emissions cuts on offer by intervening to protect the huge old native trees
and soils of unlogged forests are available now and they wouldn’t come at a cost to consumers.
“Protecting those forests and the carbon stored in the trees and soils would help Australia not just meet
its ridiculously small commitment to reduce emissions by 5 per cent, but it would help make much
deeper cuts.”
The largest stocks of carbon are found in the mountain ash forests of the central highlands of Victoria
and Tasmania. The eucalypt trees in these undisturbed forests are up to 80 metres tall (about the height
of a 25 storey building) with trunk diameters of up to 4.5 metres.
If Australia’s natural forests continue to be cleared and logged then the C02 released will significantly
increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Ms Putt said.
Allowing logged forests to regrow to their natural carbon storage capacity would be equivalent to
avoiding emissions of 136 million tonnes of C02 per year for the next 100 years. This amount of
emissions is equal to about 25% of Australia’s total emissions generated from all sectors in 2005.
Media Enquiries:
Peg Putt, 0418 127 580
NEWS 
