Understorey: Western Australia, our South West Forests & the Rights of Nature

A bold proposal to protect the environment from corporate and government indifference is embodied in the private members’ Bill before State Parliament: the Rights of Nature and Future Generations,  introduced late last year by Diane Evers, Greens MLC for the South West.

This an opportunity for Western Australia’s remarkable natural environment to be given legal standing while also acknowledging our indivisible connection with life around us.  But already the South West Dalgarup Forest, west of Bridgetown, has been removed from the proposed Dalgarup National Park so that the area can be logged –  just by redefining what makes a block “old growth.”  Within two weeks the western part of Dalgarup forest, destined for permanent protection in a proposed National Park, may be lost to the loggers.  Another day in Western Australia, but what about future generations, and the rights of nature?

(Photo: Diane Evers, supplied; SW forests, A Glamorgan)