Citizen scientists discover illegal logging of endangered trees

Citizen scientists from Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) and the Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) have discovered state-owned logging company VicForests has continued to illegally destroy numerous endangered Tree Geebungs while doing 'regeneration' works. The area is within the Immediate Protection Areas announced by the Daniel Andrews government back in 2019. One tree knocked over is estimated to be hundreds of years old.

Australia is gearing up to import greenhouse gases from some of Asia’s biggest polluters as the Albanese government introduces new laws that will, for the first time, allow international emissions to be buried in carbon capture and storage projects in local waters. The London Protocol bans the export of carbon pollution for burial under the sea, but by reforming its local laws, Australia could join a group of countries that leverage this approach as a loophole. Environment groups argue this will prolong the life of fossil fuels and delay the deployment of clean energy sources.

And the Labor government has promised to create the Great Koala National Park in an attempt to establish a sanctuary that protects koalas from further serious decline. The koala reserve will connect 300,000 hectares of state forests and existing national parks between Coffs Harbour and Kempsey in NSW. However conservationists and crossbench MPs say the government's $80 million commitment to create the park will be pointless if they continue to allow logging in the area.

Top stories:

Alarming Discovery by Citizen Scientists Sparks Concerns of Continued Illegal Logging
Citizen scientists from Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) and the Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) have discovered state-owned logging company VicForests has continued to illegally destroy numerous endangered Tree Geebungs while doing 'regeneration' works.

Australia gears up to import pollution for carbon storage
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has lodged a bill to enable the importation of carbon which is expected to be voted into law with support from the Opposition. Environmental groups argue that this will prolong the life of fossil fuels and delay the deployment of clean energy sources.

Concerns logging operations risking koala lives as NSW government urged to fast-track reserve
The New South Wales government has been urged to fast-track a national park sanctuary for koalas, with MPs and environmentalists saying logging operations continue to kill the endangered marsupials.

Push to save southern cassowary, Australia's 'living dinosaur', in federal draft recovery plan
The Australian government has released a new report that aims to secure the future of the endangered southern cassowary, but not everyone is convinced it will work.

Canada sees record CO2 emissions from fires so far this year
Wildfires raging across Canada, made more intense by global warming, have released more planet-warming carbon dioxide in the first six months of 2023 than in any full year on record, EU scientists said Tuesday.

Pod of orcas thrills whale watchers on NSW Far South Coast
Whale watchers on the NSW Far South Coast were treated to a rare, close-up encounter with a pod of eight killer whales inside the bay at Merimbula on Monday afternoon.

You call that a winter? Sydney has driest June since Crocodile Dundee debuted
Australian emergency authorities are now on edge with hazard reduction efforts having been significantly hampered by the past three years of wet weather - just 20 percent of scheduled works has been completed in the past 12 months.