Sidney, Europe Brief News – Hundreds of ordinary citizens are volunteering in a battle to protect an ancient rainforest in the Australian state of Tasmania.
They are determined to stop the construction of a tailing dam by a Chinese mining company, saying it threatens endangered wildlife and 500-year-old trees.
Despite tough new penalties for protesters, they are prepared to break the law for their beliefs.
Filming from day one of the protest, 101 East follows the latest fight in the continuing struggle to save Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.
Despite numerous public campaigns and government programs, native forests in Australia, from the hot far north tropics to the cooler temperate south, face a variety of threats.
Australians are responding through online petitions, donations to buy back land and direct action.
In Tasmania, protests are planned for World Environment Day on 5 June 2021 as part of an ongoing campaign to protect the world renowned takayna/Tarkine rainforest. There are calls for it to become a World Heritage Area (WHA), similar to the Tasmanian Wilderness WHAs.
In fact, some activists have risked arrest by chaining themselves to mining equipment and other tactics to disrupt operations and highlight the issue.
