“Why can’t you accept the umpires decision?” This question has been asked a lot recently of people who oppose the current logging in Monga. The fact is, it is possible for umpires to make ill-informed and poorly judged decisions. In this case the umpires decision is the Regional Forest Agreement conducted in the South East of NSW, the aim of which was to determine which areas of native forest should be protected from further logging and placed in reserve and which should continue to be logged.
There were basic plans in the RFA process:
* Some of the survey work underpinning the RFA contained inherent inadequacies and led to erroneous conclusions. For example the extent of rainforest in Monga was significantly underestimated the aerial photography used which showed up only the eucalypt canopy, not the rainforest hidden underneath.
* The scientific criteria used were not comprehensive enough and left out relevant aspects. They mainly concentrated on studies of flora and fauna, leaving out for example, measures of the biomass of particular ecosystems which would have enhanced the value of an area like Monga.
* Non scientific criteria were not taken into account, including the potential for alternative uses for particular areas, (especially eco-tourism) and aesthetics. The application of these considerations to Monga would have favoured a more protective outcome.
* Not taken into account, also, was the viability of alternative sources (eg plantations) for fulfilling timber requirements. Recent economic studies have shown that projected demand for timber is falling rather than increasing as was previously predicted and that plantations would be able to supply a significant proportion of our future demands for timber.
* While community groups were invited to express opinions via submissions to the RFA process, the actual decision making took place in a government to government level that concerned community groups were not party to. In the end decisions were made irrespective of the scientific criteria as pressure was applied to ensure that State Forests was left with enough area to log. At the eleventh hour back-room negotiations took place about Monga between State Forests and National Parks and Wildlife in which desired areas were traded off for political and economic reasons. This is how we come to have the anomalous situation of a small part of Monga, boundered in three sides by National Park, being logged by State Forests and why it is hard for some of us to “accept the umpires decision”. ROBYN STELLER, Braidwood.
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