Cry of the Forests
Logline: Cry of the Forests looks at the plight of Western Australia’s unique forests and their value in mitigating climate change.
Short Synopsis:
Western Australia’s southwest forests are part of one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet and are recognised for their ability to capture and store carbon. They are vital to slowing run-away climate change yet instead of preserving them they are being cut down at an alarming rate for charcoal, firewood and woodchips. Cry of the Forests takes viewers to the heart of the forests to see first-hand the beauty of these towering ecosystems and to witness the community battle to save them.
Longer form Synopsis:
Western Australia’s unique south west forests have stood for millennia and are a key part of one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots yet we are cutting them down at a rate of nearly ten football fields every single day. More than 80 per cent of the trees felled will be turned into woodchips, charcoal or paper and burnt within two years of being cut down. An initially successful battle to save WA’s native forests in the 1990s led to a public perception that these forests had been protected but in the intervening decades the hard won gains have slowly been eroded away.
Forests play a crucial role in the water cycle but the streams that once bubbled through these unique ecological communities in Western Australia are drying up and the critical habitat they provide for endangered species is shrinking.
Cry of the Forests takes viewers into these majestic forests to meet the activists armed with go-pros and dressed in camouflage gear risking their lives to bear witness to the logging. We meet traditional custodians, tourist operators & farmers on the frontline of the battle to protect these forests.
