In Australia, Greens MP urges against blocking mechanism for koala park
In Australia, Sue Higginson, a Greens member of the upper house of the New South Wales parliament, has urged her federal party colleagues not to support the National Party’s proposal to repeal a carbon credit mechanism linked to the creation of a national koala park. As The Guardian reports, the issue has caused a split among the Greens and environmental organisations.
Federal regulations allow state governments to receive carbon credits for protecting public native forests from logging. The National Party is seeking to repeal the regulation through a parliamentary disallowance procedure, with a Senate vote scheduled for next week.
Sue Higginson’s position
The federal Greens are to discuss whether to support the National Party’s proposal. Part of the party believes that the koala park should be created, but not through such a carbon credit mechanism.
Higginson had previously opposed receiving credits for protecting public forests, but changed her position after the mechanism was revised. According to her, the rules provide for a substantial reduction in logging in New South Wales, which was not included in the state premier Chris Minns’ initial commitment.
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The MP also said that if the current mechanism is repealed, another model being prepared by forestry industry representatives could be adopted. In her view, such an option would be less environmentally friendly, would continue the logging of native forests and would provide for the creation of lower-quality credits.
Arguments of the sides
Critics of the regulation, including the Bob Brown Foundation and the Wilderness Society, argue that the state government proposed creating a park near Coffs Harbour ten years before linking the project to carbon credit revenue. In their view, such credits would not mean a real reduction in emissions and could set a precedent under which state governments make environmental protection dependent on offset mechanisms.
Meanwhile, environmental and Indigenous organisations in New South Wales, as well as WWF, Greenpeace, the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation and some environmentalists, stress that there is no guarantee the park will be created if the mechanism is repealed. It concerns the protection of 176,000 hectares of additional forests inhabited by more than 100 threatened species.
Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown supported repealing the regulation. He said that around 600 national parks have been created in Australia, and none of them required carbon credit revenue.
