Experts have their say on Tasmania's environmental laws

Protester's in the North-West have continued to oppose the logging of the Tarkine throughout the pandemic while an Extinction Rebellion protester was arrested this week at a rally in Launceston.

With the debate heating up, journalist JACKSON WORTHINGTON asked experts from a variety of fields - Does Tasmanian have adequate environmental protections? Here is how what they had to say.

In other news:

Teaches environmental law at the University of Tasmania and is a member of the Tasmanian Independent Science Council

BR: One has to begin by recognising there is a difference between law on the books and law in practice, this is world wide.

What that means is you can have a jurisdiction that has plenty of good looking environmental laws, but they are not well implemented and that is a pervasive problem around the world. It is an issue in Tasmania, it is an issue in other parts of Australia.

JW: On paper, do our laws work?

BR: A lot of the legislation is framed around aspirational goals like to promote sustainable development, but such phrases create opportunities for deficient performance because they are not an absolute standard to be met.

When you have that sort of an aspirational direction we don't have firm accountable benchmarks to hold regulators and politicians to account.

If we take the forestry sector which has been in the news ... if you just look at the legislation you might think 'yeah this could work really well, and we won't log old growth, we won't log where there are endangered species'.

The reality is that the forest practices plans are issued and logging happens in areas where environmentalists and expert scientists would probably say that you shouldn't be doing it.

JW: If you were reforming the law what would you like to see?

BR: We should be looking at the example that Victoria has recently set.

In November last year Premier Daniel Andrews said that all native forest logging would end by 2030 and there would be an immediate cessation of old growth logging.

Member of Forestry Watch, an environmental conservation organisation, and the TISC

JS: No, I feel that they are not strong enough. I work a lot in forest conservation and currently logging is allowed in forests under what they call the Regional Forests Agreement.

These agreements allow logging to be exempt from the EPBC Act and they are not sufficiently protecting our threatened species.

JW: Do you think it is a common occurrence for logging to occur in places of high conservation value?

JS: Yes, there is a lot of old growth forests still being logged in Tasmania. Old growth forests are important as they contain big old trees that have hollows in them. These hollows provide habitat for many animal species, including threatened species.

JW: What would you like to see change?

JS: I think we need to have a whole new national law which replaces the EPBC Act. Logging needs to be assessed under this new law as well, just like any other activity or development.

Both the Regional Forest Agreements and the EPBC Act aren't adequate enough for protecting our environment and we need a whole new law that thoroughly manages threatened species.

Forestry and conservation expert at UTAS.

SB: Tasmania's environmental protections around forestry are very good compared to forestry in other developed countries around the world, because of very high levels of protection, 58 per cent of native forests in reserves and a good forest practices system administered by the independent Forest Practices Authority.

However, there is always room for improvement, and the permanent reserve network alone isn't able to protect all threatened species.

JW: What are some of the challenges?

SB: A challenge for balancing timber production and conservation is an indirect consequence of having protected large areas of the most productive forests along with constraints of the legislative framework.

With a smaller land area available for harvesting, there is greater pressure on production lands to meet timber supply quotas.

JW: What is the way forward?

SB: There is not always enough science to guide decision making, and the government is in a difficult situation of trying to balance employment and the economy with the environment.

Currently it is unknown whether land sparing, land sharing or an intermediate scenario will be optimal for balancing biodiversity conservation and timber production.

My research group are starting to investigate this topic.

Senior lecturer of climatology in the discipline of Geography & Spatial Science at UTAS.

RH: No is the short answer, I am not an expert in the legal side of things but, I think we can see that the destruction continues.

JW: What some of the impacts that you see?

RH: My research focuses very much on impacts of climate change on natural, but also human systems and change in processes such as bush fire weather.

In that context I think that a lot of the protections that have been put in place are not ready to protect things in the future or even in the current changing conditions.

JW: What sort of reform would you like to see?

RH: I have a big concern when it comes to the use of offsets when it comes to development approvals.

The idea that you can destroy one habitat in one place replace it with another only leads to inevitable decline in essential habitat

JW: Without reform what do you expect to see?

RH: We will see more and more widespread extreme events like heatwaves, droughts and bushfires which will have massive impacts on humans ... but will also have a huge impact on natural systems.

Acting Tasmanian Environment Minister

GB: Tasmania's environmental laws are robust, contemporary and strong. Since coming to government we have taken action to strengthen them where required to ensure they remain so into the future.

Our strong actions include amending the environmental regulation of the salmon industry by making the independent Environmental Protection Authority, the relevant regulator in 2016.

Significant steps have also been taken to strengthen the regulatory framework and ensure the sustainability of an expanding finfish aquaculture sector. We have also taken action to protect our endangered species, with tough new penalties for those who deliberately kill threatened species.

JW: Does the government have any plans for environmental law reform?

GB: We are taking action to future-proof Tasmania's environmental laws for the years to come such as strengthening the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 and related legislation.

We will continue to listen and act where appropriate to ensure our laws remain strong.

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