So David Frazer of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries is satisfied with the East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement (10/6) - what a surprise! He would indeed be about the last person in the world we should look to for an opinion concerning the adequacy of the area's reserve system.
The regional forest agreement certainly did not, as alleged by Mr Frazer, provide an approach which establishes "a world-class system of reserves". It could have done if the reserves had been selected to protect the region's confirmed world heritage values, using the criteria established by UNESCO for this purpose, but they were not.
The world heritage criteria emphasise the importance of the criterion of integrity and studies of this very point have shown that in this respect and because of the nature of the values, a linked system of reserves is necessary. Instead, the assessment of boundaries and areas has been deferred to the year 2000 and the agreement has been signed committing the areas between the reserves to long- term woodchipping.
In other words, the security of these world heritage class forests has been sacrificed for the resource security of the totally foreign-owned, Eden-based export woodchip industry, and in so doing, demonstrating that the regional agreement approach is both morally and scientifically bankrupt
Roll on the woodchip republic!