Forest areas the Andrews government recently set aside to protect the endangered greater glider had been logged before they were gazetted, providing scant additional habitat for the rare possum.

In October, the state government set aside “special protection zones” in native forests across Gippsland and the Central Highlands of Victoria, a total of about 25,000 hectares, to protect the greater glider.

Immediately ending native forest logging across Victoria’s central highlands, one of the world’s most intense carbon sinks, would generate an extra $60 million in benefits for the state this decade alone.

In a challenge to the Andrew government’s ongoing support for logging of native wet forests – a position that Greens are actively campaigning against in the state election – a report by the right-leaning Blueprint Institute to be released on Tuesday finds preserving trees generates more in tourism, water supply benefits, and carbon credits than cutting them down.

Environmentalists who had supported and applauded the government’s move were blindsided — and now say they were tricked by the government. A letter on behalf of six of those groups wrote to Premier Daniel Andrews in late November 2019 seeking “urgent clarification” of the measures they had given public support for.

The claim that 90,000 hectares of old growth had been protected from logging did not match the reality and zones designated as old growth on the map the government released continued to be logged.

As the federal government considers joining the global push to halt deforestation by 2030 at COP27 this week, the Victorian government is facing calls at home to end native forest logging and protect the forests that provide critical services for Victorians.

Doctors for the Environment (DEA) member Dr Jennifer Conway, also member of the DEA Biodiversity Special Interest group, said the DEA was calling for:

• Urgent actions to bring forward the 2030 exit from native forest logging, including immediate roll-out of measures to support workers and the forestry industry.
• Full consultation and shared decision making with Traditional Owners.
• Declaration of the Great Forest National Park by the State Government in this term of office.

Victoria’s Supreme Court has found state-owned logging agency VicForests failed to follow the law and protect endangered greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders when logging native forests.

Victoria’s state logging company has failed to protect threatened species of gliders, and its methods to check for them before logging are inadequate, the state’s supreme court has found.

Justice Melinda Richards ordered VicForests on Friday to carry out full surveys of areas for greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders before logging, and to include buffers around habitats.

Native forest logging in Victoria produces about 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to the pollution from 700,000 medium-sized cars or double the state’s domestic aviation sector, research shows.

For the first time, Victoria’s native logging emissions have been calculated and made public. These findings, commissioned by the Victorian Forest Alliance, will increase pressure on the state Labor government to bring forward the industry’s planned 2030 closure.

Captcha tests are used by websites to determine users are human and not a bot trying to create a fake account. Challenges usually include clicking on all of the zebra crossings or traffic lights.

But one test, which has been shared widely online has a darker side.

While state MPs keep backing the destruction of native forest for woodchips and paper pulp, a once-divided timber region is getting out of native logging. By Katherine Wilson.

Victoria's logging regulator is failing to fully use its powers, and cannot assure the public it is effectively reducing the risk of illegal logging, according to a report by the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO).