The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) urges
the Premier to resist calls from the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to
burn north coast forests for power[1]. Touted
as ‘innovative’, burning wood for power has been happening for as long as
humans have been able to knock stones together to create sparks. It is to
energy what the ox is to farming: outdated.
Evidence from Europe[2] shows
that the adoption of biomass power is driving deforestation in Russia, Canada,
the USA, Slovakia, Italy, Spain and Finland. Far from meeting its stated aims
of reducing carbon emissions, biomass has been assessed as driving climate
change as it ‘emits more carbon per unit of energy than most fossil fuels’[3]
NPA Senior Ecologist, Dr OisÃn Sweeney said: “It’s hard to imagine a worse
idea than this. Given what we know that biomass use overseas is driving
deforestation, and the evidence that burning forests for power is driving
climate change, this is reckless in the extreme.
“Coming from a Government Department that has
a responsibility to serve the public interest moves it from merely ill advised
to downright irresponsible.
“The Australian Government tells us that
logging removes carbon stores from forests, and that north coast forests have
huge carbon storage potential[4]. Yet
here’s a suggestion to log forests and burn them for power. That’s perverse
given we urgently need to tackle climate change, and has serious implications
for human health as it results in air pollution.
“Burning forests for power would put a big
hole in the NSW Government’s ambitions to have net zero emissions by 2050,
because it will reduce the land based carbon stores needed to complement
emissions reductions. The Premier, in light of the evidence as to emissions
from biomass, should choose genuine renewables.
“Burning forests has long been an industry
aim. That’s why the NSW Government permitted the burning of whole logs in 2013[5], and the
Federal Government made biomass eligible under the renewable energy target.
“North coast forests are one of just 36
global biodiversity hotspots. Koala populations are in steep decline—partly due
to intensive native forest logging. Now this suggestion to burn them.
“Survey after survey shows strong community
support for genuine renewables like solar, yet this idea would have us use
stone age technology.
“The community has a clear choice: burn
public forests and drive wildlife towards the cliff, or end logging and use
genuinely innovative technology to generate clean energy.”
MEDIA RELEASE
22nd November 2017
[1]https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/releases/2017/north-coast-forests-offer-untapped-bioenergy-opportunity
[2]BirdLife International: The Black Book of Bioenergy.
https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/black-book
[3]Chatham House 2017: The impacts of the demand for woody biomass
for power and heat on climate and forests.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2017-02-23-impacts-demand-woody-biomass-climate-forests-brack-final.pdf
[4]ABARES 2017.
http://data.daff.gov.au/data/warehouse/9aaf/9aafe003/fag17d9abfe20170822/ForestsAtGlance_2017_v1.0.0.pdf
[5]EPA 2013.
http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/licensing-and-regulation/licensing/environment-protection-licences/burning-of-biomaterial/amendments-to-the-burning-of-native-forest-biomaterials-q-and-a
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