Styx campaign moves to second phase

The five-month long tree-sit in Tasmania’s threatened Styx Valley has come to an end, as organisers claim a victory in the first stage of their campaign. The protest is against the logging of the Styx’s old growth trees for sale as woodchips for paper production in Japan.

"We have chosen to remove the Global Rescue Station after having firmly placed the issue of Tasmania's forests on the national political agenda, and will be expanding our campaign activities around the country,” said the Wilderness Society’s Geoff Law.

The campaign has drawn media interest from around the world, including the US, Europe and Japan, and is set to become a significant issue in the upcoming Australian Federal election.

Greenpeace campaigner Rebecca Hubbard commented; "We will continue to intensify the international campaign and maintain the heat on Gunns Ltd. Reports in UK newspaper The Guardian, the LA Times and on BBC TV have brought this issue to a global audience - Tasmania's threatened forests are already on the international agenda."