South West community makes its voice heard in calls to end forest mining in national March for Forests

Several thousand stood in the centre of Perth, Margaret River and Albany last Sunday, their voices loud and their message clear — end forest mining. West Australians joined tens of thousands across the country calling for an end to native deforestation as part of the national March for Forests. Organised by the Bob Brown Foundation, the nationwide event saw more than 15,000 people across Australia calling for the protection of native forests. Speaking at the Perth rally Greens MLC Jess Beckerling said it was WA’s “great shame” to continue clearing forests when less than than 10 per cent of the State’s original vegetation still stands. Ms Beckerling pointed to bauxite miners Alcoa and South 32 as the driving cause of deforestation in WA. “We’re losing 1000ha of our precious remaining northern jarrah forests just to bauxite mining here every single year,” she said. Conservation Council of WA campaigner Kat Neaves said WA’s nature was already under pressure and ongoing forest mining was pushing nature to the brink. “We have already lost so much, but there’s still so much worth protecting and restoring,” she said. “You hear from scientists that tell you that rainfall in the South West has declined 20 per cent since 1970, claiming these forests a real risk of climate collapse. “Alcoa is proposing to clear over 11,000ha of these forests — this is the largest amount of forest clearing ever put before WA’s Environmental Protection Authority and the WA Government.” Bob Brown Foundation’s Paddy Cullen said he was blown away with the support across the State and said he was particularly inspired by 16-year-old Harper McKinney who organised the Margaret River protests. He said it was gratifying to see young people pushing to improve the world often destroyed by the older generations. “Let’s be on the right side of history and do something important,” he said. “We have a forest of people here, a forest of leaders out here — a forest of people that can go to their politicians and demand we protest our forests.”