The WA Forest Alliance (WAFA) is launching a new statewide advertising campaign this weekend to draw attention to the destruction of WA's South West Karri and Jarrah forests in the lead-up to the state election.
The billboards located in Perth CBD, Fremantle and the South West, highlight the alarming fact that 10 football fields of Karri and Jarrah forest are being logged and cleared every day. Most ends up being used for charcoal, woodchips and firewood.
In addition to the billboards, a major new television advertisement is being launched.
"The continued logging and clearing of these forests represents an environmental and social disaster that Premier McGowan has the power to stop," said WAFA campaign director Jess Beckerling.
"WA is the only state in Australia where emissions continue to rise. That's an embarrassment and one that our leaders could begin to tackle if they recognised our South West forests as an ally in the climate crisis, instead of allowing their large-scale destruction."
Over the past 150 years, 90% of the South West's forests have been logged or cleared, releasing significant volumes of stored carbon into the atmosphere.
The new advertising campaign calls on Premier McGowan to intervene and protect the South West forests from further logging and clearing.
Recent polling shows that 78% of West Australians support the protection of the South West's native forests and timber production coming from plantations.
"The science on this issue has been settled. Logging and clearing are major drivers of climate change, releasing huge volumes of carbon into the atmosphere and degrading a critical carbon sink," said Ms Beckerling.
"It's time for Premier McGowan to change the story and protect the South West's precious Karri and Jarrah forests. It's what WA voters clearly want him to do and it's also what the local business community wants too.
"Our South West forests support a whole raft of businesses from bee keeping to tourism. They're worth far more being allowed to stand tall than being cut down.
"We can't go on allowing this precious resource to be turned into woodchips, firewood and charcoal – they need protecting now."
