There are so many kinds of living things in the world, each one different from the next. An ant is entirely different from and octopus, a shark is different from a wallaby, you and I are different from a snail. But there is one very important thing we all have in common. We all have an environment in which we can best live and grow and we are always learning from it. This environment not only provides important things like the right amount of sunlight, the right amount of warmth and oxygen in the air, it also provides the right kind of food and right amount of water and, the necessary level of chemicals in the soil.

The environment is always changing, that is the way of the world, and all living things learn from their environment and change themselves to become better able to live in it. Some living things are more flexible than others, they can live in a lot of different temperatures for instance or eat different kinds of food. A lot of living things, though, are very specific. Corals for example are very picky when it comes to how warm or cool their waters are. Koala bears are the same – they only eat a few different kinds of eucalyptus leaves. This is why corals only grow in certain areas of the world, and koala bears only live in Australia. Given time, corals could perhaps learn to live in warmer or cooler temperatures, and Koala bears might learn to eat other leaves. Or they could even evolve into entirely different species that can do these things. If they do change (or adapt) or evolve will depend on a great many things, but if they had the time to and their environment demanded it, it is entirely possible. 

The problem with climate change, though, is that the changes are happening too fast, and most plants and animals don’t have enough time to learn and change to their environment. It’s like being told to run a 5k marathon without having had any training. You won’t make quite make it; but given time, and training you learn, your muscles get stronger, your stamina builds… your body changes into one that is able to run a marathon. Everything needs time.

In Tasmania, we have seen a lot of change in the oceans. As a result of Climate Change the ocean waters have become much warmer, and not only that they have less of the good things like nutrients that sea animals and plants need to live. To survive, many fish and other sea creatures (more than a 100 species!) in Tasmania have moved away from our seas looking for environments further south that are cooler and more like the environment they are used to. Other species though have not been so adaptable. Along the east coast of Tasmania there used to be a massive forest of giant kelp (seaweed). A lot of sea animals used to call this forest home, but because seaweed is less able to move away like fish can, the entire forest is now almost completely gone. It became too warm for the kelp to live and without the time they needed to change and become more used to the warmer waters, the forest has nearly died out in these parts. Without the protection and shelter that the kelp gave them, some animals that might have otherwise been able to continue living there, have also gone away, looking for another home, or have disappeared from this area entirely.

This is happening all throughout the world. The environment that living things are used to is changing very quickly, a few living things have found creative ways to deal with these changes. Storks for instance, used to migrate during winter to warmer places like Uganda, but they have learned to stay where they are when winters are warmer than normal and lay their eggs earlier so that their babies can grow up in the cool temperatures and wet weather they need to survive.

A lot of animals and plants haven’t been as successful at adapting to change as storks have. Where they can, many animals have moved to places that feel more like the environment they are used to, some birds and mammals have learned to change their behaviour like the storks, finding other places to feed themselves or different sorts of food. Many species though are struggling to keep up with the big, rapid changes happening to their homes and unless we can work together to stop these changes from continuing to happen, they might be lost forever. Even the animals that have found other ways for now, won’t be able to keep up if climate change continues.

There is so much that is being done around the world to help though. In Tasmania, for example, scientists are running experiments on the few remaining kelp on the east coast to find out what has helped them live when all the other plants in the forest had died; and to find out if some of these remaining plants can survive even warmer temperatures. By replanting these plants, a forest that is better able to survive a warmer environment could be regrown in years to come! Fish and sea creatures that can live in the new, warmer ocean waters of Tasmania can then come and find a home in a brand-new underwater forest.

Over the coming years, you might see a lot of this type of change around you – keep an eye out because it’s fascinating how living things will continue to find ways to survive in the face of great adversity and change. You might see trees and flowers, fish and birds that you haven’t seen before begin to grow and come down to Tasmania because the environment in Tasmania has become more suited to their needs. Some of what you are used to seeing now might start to disappear, birds might fly off, and fish swim away to a place that is better for them. Like the kelp though, unless we help, some of the living things in Tasmania and around the world might disappear. So, wherever and whenever we can, we must do all that is possible to help all living things keep their home or find another one. So, talk to your friends and family, keep an eye out on the nature around you, ask more questions and demand more answers! Sometimes that’s all you really need to do.

In the last few years, Tasmania has made quite a bit of progress towards protecting native forests, but there is still a lot of space for us to do better.

The first step to protecting nature, whether on land or on sea is to identify what the threats are. For Tasmanian forests some of the key threats today are logging and clear-cutting and the effects of warmer temperatures. These threats feed into each other. When trees are cut down carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and less is taken out. When this happens, the global temperature rises. Not only this, trees and other plant species work together to create their ideal growing conditions. When trees are lost from an area it also means there is, for instance, less shade to help the remaining plants keep each other cool. Like us, all species have a limit to how much of heat or cold they can withstand; in the same way that we find it hard to do anything when it is too hot, trees are also less able to do the things that they need to do to live. Recently, there was a lot of research, including one done in Huon Valley during a heatwave, that found that trees are less able to feed themselves through photosynthesis when the temperature is too high for them. When it’s too hot, trees also emit more Carbon dioxide into the air, this is because, as with all species that breathe (this includes trees!) they respire more when it is hot. So, in more ways than one, less trees means more heat and, unfortunately more heat also means more fire danger.

It is important for us to know and understand that fire is a natural part of the life cycle of many forest plants in Australia. Fires help some plant seeds to germinate, it helps clear the forest floor allowing sunlight to reach the seeds on the ground. It kills off weeds and insects that might be harming the surrounding plants, and it even helps add nutrients that plants need to grow into the soil. So, fire is not bad, fire is needed for forests to continue growing, but all things in nature (us included) needs delicate balance. Too little or too much of something can impact your health and growth, for instance, you need carbohydrates and proteins in your diet to be healthy, but too much of either will lead to health issues. In recent years, bushfires have been burning too hot and for too long for forests. Instead of helping seeds grow and clearing away things that are harming them, these fires, often made worse by climate change, is burning the forests away.

So, what can we do to reduce these threats and help forests thrive? We need to take into account all those things that our forests need in order to grow, and make sure that management plans for these forests are correctly and efficiently addressing these needs. Aboriginal knowledge and scientific research in recent years, tell us a lot about what conditions Tasmania’s plants grow best in. It is important that we push for forest management that synthesizes these knowledge systems. With the changing climate, we need to think about how we can make our forests more resilient heat and other changing conditions too. So, forest managers will need to carefully nurture and cultivate forests by working with the environment in the same way that Aboriginal communities have done for centuries past. For instance, seeds of species collected from warmer forest areas can be sown to grow trees that are better able to handle warmer temperatures. There is always variation even within a single population – my brother, for example, is much better at handling cold weather than I am! Research can help identify individual trees that can withstand heat better and we can grow these in forests to help the secure the future of the forest. This is something that researchers are trying right now to help bring back Giant Kelp forests in eastern Tasmania.

As part of forest management, we also need improved fire management in Tasmania. This means working towards reducing large bushfires while also applying planned fires to areas that need regular burning. This requires quite a lot of careful planning that considers species that are sensitive to fire, species that need fire, threatened species and habitats that need protection, safety conditions, etc. Forest management also needs to reduce other threats, such as logging and pollution. This is quite a lot to think about and plan for, but it is entirely doable by working together with the right sources of information, the right tools and with a united goal. In other words, we know how we can protect forests better and what is needed to do this… but more resources, such as funding for more research and planning, and support is needed if we are to properly conserve our forests.

By advocating for and asking your councils and political leaders for better, more sustainable forest management, we can increase the amount of funding and resources that governments put towards protecting and managing them. In Australia, there is always space to be involved in decisions made by governing bodies, you can find out what your local council is doing through their website, or simply by giving them a call. Be involved where you can and ask those around you to do the same. Your voice always counts! We can of course also contribute to protecting our forests through everyday things. The best way to reduce deforestation and logging, not just in Tasmania but globally, is to reduce demand for it. Re-using, recycling, upcycling, and reducing consumption of things like paper would reduce the need for trees to be cut down at all.

All things on earth only work when working together, whether it’s a colony of ants, a forest system, or a nation of people – it is the simplest law of nature. Protecting one system means to protect another. Protecting forests will benefit us all. All things considered, to better protect Tasmania’s forests, it would truly be enough simply to remind ourselves and everyone around us of this!