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Media ReleasesHistory repeats itself with destruction of national parks07 Dec 2006 NAFI has warned that Victoria and New South Wales are preparing this weekend to endure one of the worst and most destructive periods of wildfires in their national parks. “As recent history from the 2003 bushfires prove, the failure of state governments to properly manage national park forests has disastrous environmental outcomes,’ said NAFI’s CEO, Catherine Murphy. “Over 3 million hectares of forests were destroyed in NSW and Victoria in the 2003 fires. Not only did we witness the death and destruction of thousands of animals and native vegetation, but 130 million tonnes of greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere in just a few weeks. This is equivalent to one quarter of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emission,” said Mrs Murphy. “State premiers and environmentalists applaud themselves in continuing to lock-up sustainably managed and productive forests into national parks. Bob Carr locked-up 350,000 hectares of productive cypress forests in the Pilliga region. We have just witnessed almost a third of this destroyed by fire. “Similarly, Premier Bracks’ election commitment locked-up another 40,000 hectares of productive forests in the Gippsland region. How long will it take for this to be destroyed by fires? “National parks staff struggle with the limited resources provided to them to properly manage these reserves. Environmentalists continue to decry active park management through controlled burning, but are profoundly silent on the massive loss of biodiversity in these wildfires. Local communities volunteer their services to protect the forests and property, but the environmentalists are nowhere to be seen. “As we watch our states burn again this weekend, with hundreds of thousands of hectares of our forests wiped-out, and thousands of tonnes of carbon emitted into our atmosphere, state governments and the environmental movement should be called to account for endorsing the management practices that allow these catastrophes to occur,” said Mrs Murphy. ENDS For more information, contact Greg Haraldson: (02) 6285 3833 0419 465 328 |
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