Saving Forests Is Climate Action

I stuck this sign up on the ACT-NSW border today as I crossed the Brindabella mountains on my way to #CitSciOz25 in Melbourne, where I’m keynoting on Monday morning.

I left Canberra early, and pedalled up through the moutains and Namadgi National Park before crossing over into NSW. I stopped at the border to pin this sign up: "Saving Forests Is Climate Action". Because it's one of the simplest, most effective ways Australia can make a serious dent in emissions. Just stop logging native forests.

The ACT banned native logging long ago. Western Australia and Victoria recently ended it (with only fire-break and salvage logging left). But NSW, Tasmania and Queensland are still at it big time. And here's the real kicker - the NSW Government's Forestry Corporation runs at a huge loss. Tasmania's and Queensland's operations probably do too - but their governments are so opaque, it's hard to find reliable data.

The environmental costs really stack up. Ongoing logging in NSW is hitting the habitat of over 150 threatened species. Many forests are already heavily fragmented and degraded. Native logging contributes to erosion, fire risk, species decline, and carbon emissions from tree removal and soil disturbance.

It’s sad and frankly absurd that despite the financial losses, the biodiversity collapse and the carbon cost, Australia is still cutting down native forests just to make toilet paper, woodchips and wooden pallets to deliver stuff to places like Bunnings - surely our forests are worth more than that.

There’s a better path. A WWF-commissioned report shows NSW could end native forest logging while sustaining jobs - transitioning workers into restoration, plantation sectors, hardwood processing, and land stewardship. In other words, we don’t have to choose jobs or forests - we can build a future with both.

So today, as I lunch in Tumut and then ride on another 65km to Tumbarumba, I’m carrying more than my kit. I'm carrying hope. Hope that Australia can shift direction - that we can protect the carbon, biodiversity, water and spirit that lives in our forests. And that citizen action, community pressure, and smart policy can make it real.

Because saving forests is climate action - and right now, that’s one of the most urgent low-hanging fruits we have.

Gregory Andrews at the NSW-ACT border with his "Saving Forests Is Climate Action" poster.