Pelican
You said: "Does every forest need to be exploited by man purely for economic purpose without consideration of other values"

I find myself continually wondering how often it has to be said that just 5% of Australia's forests are being managed for long term sustainable wood supply. So that's 95% of forests that aren't being exploited by man (at least not for timber) and where other values are the primary consideration.

These simple statistics should invalidate almost everything that is said or written about forests from the Green-Left perspective or others with well-meant intentions. That it doesn't bespeaks of an unshakable ideology that has no time for facts - well, that's all I can put it down to anyway.

MWPOYNTER,
Only 25% of Tasmania’s original extent of old growth forests remains (1.24 million ha out of the original 4.82 million). Yet ancient forests continue to be cleared, woodchipped and replaced by plantations. The Tasmanian government claims 68% of old growth forests are protected. But many of these are not in proper reserves. Old growth forests protected are dominated by the type of communities not suitable for woodchipping, such as dry E. nitida and short rainforest.
The above are forest facts. How can you say that:

“how often it has to be said that just 5% of Australia's forests are being managed for long term sustainable wood supply. So that's 95% of forests that aren't being exploited by man (at least not for timber) and where other values are the primary consideration.”

Unless it is the usual Statistics and damned lies again.

Pelican,

How much biodiversity is enough?

How much biodiversity is enough?

Without it we cannot sustain the human race and other species.

“Biodiversity is the fabric of life upon which we are totally reliant for clean air, water and natural resources,” says Dr Peter McQuillan of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania.

Science shows that many species and landscapes are in decline with potentially disastrous consequences.

“Given the complexity of natural ecosystems we don’t know what effect the loss of a single species will have. We do know that when the natural environment is in good condition with healthy populations of native species that it is more resilient to threats such as weeds and climate change,” says Dr McQuillan

“For its size and location, Tasmania is one of the most biodiverse islands in the world but proper maintenance of this legacy is an ongoing challenge. We must arrest the ongoing decline of important species such as predators and pollinators, but the conservation of Tasmania’s outstanding fauna and flora must move beyond a narrow focus on threatened species alone. The present species by species approach is driven by current legislation, but is too slow, too expensive and largely ignores the important roles that all native species play in the environment.” says Dr McQuillan.

There are approximately 13 500 known species of plants, animals and fungi in Tasmania. This does not include marine species nor the estimated 50 000 species of terrestrial invertebrates and fungi that have yet to be discovered by science.

Cont'd

Cont'd

“650 species in Tasmania are considered rare or threatened, many of these are found nowhere else in the world. Some species, such as the orange-bellied parrot and several native fish are perilously close to extinction,” says co-author Nick Fitzgerald of the Wilderness Society.

“In the natural environment everything is related. We can’t possibly document, let alone manage, all of these interactions individually. The current approach to managing threatened species individually is ineffective and severely under-resourced. A better focus would be on managing entire landscapes to support wide-ranging animals and essential landscape processes like water flows in addition to all of the known and unknown species in each area.” says Nick Fitzgerald."

“The existing extent of reserves is not sufficient to conserve all the state’s biodiversity in the future. We need to make all our landscapes more ‘biodiversity friendly’ through clever management such as improving connectivity between isolated patches of bushland,” concludes Dr McQuillan.

http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/article/the-state-of-tasmanias-biodiversity-highlighted-in-the-international-year-o

I was fishing for something measurable (e.g. NOT UTas Geography nor Tas Times), but I knew I'd be disappointed.

Let's see what Pelican comes up with.