PENALTIES for illegal logging in NSW forests should be 10 times higher to ensure koala habitats are preserved, the state opposition says.
Forestry Corporation of NSW was fined a total of $900 last week after being found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats in the Royal Camp State Forest near Casino on three separate occasions last year.
Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley says the "paltry" fine would not deter future illegal logging.
"As a state we should be doing everything we can to protect our dwindling population of koalas," Mr Foley said.
"Are we so indifferent to their plight that the only place they will be in a few years is in captivity?"
Mr Foley has called on the O'Farrell government to support a private member's bill, now being debated in the upper house, to increase penalties for illegal forestry activities.
This would see maximum fines raised from $22,000 to $220,000, with the possibility of two years in prison.
"Increasing penalties by tenfold will help address the exceedingly low penalties for illegal forestry operations and the forestry record on complying with environmental laws," Mr Foley said.
He said forestry penalties fell well below those for other environmental breaches, where fines of $1.1 million can be levied for offences such as polluting a waterway and illegal land clearing.
North East Forest Alliance spokesman Dailan Pugh echoed the call for greater penalties, saying there is currently no incentive for loggers to do the right thing.
"They're taking dozens of trees out of the koala high-use areas and they're making a lot of money out of them, and the fine's nothing.
"It's not even one tree."
A Forestry Corporation spokeswoman said the $900 fine reflected "the insignificant nature of the breaches".
The corporation was found guilty of illegal logging of koala habitats on three occasions last year.
But the spokeswoman said there was no evidence koalas had been harmed in the Royal Camp State Forest.
She added that harvesting in the forest was not intense and "preferred koala feed trees" were not touched.
She also said koalas preferred managed and natural forests.
"Harvesting promotes the preferred forest structures for healthy koala populations," she said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas
Dengan url
http://laptoptua.blogspot.com/2013/07/bigger-fines-urged-to-save-nsw-koalas.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Bigger fines urged to save NSW koalas
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar