Tree-top protest over Tasmania

The demonstrators want the area made into a national park

A group of international protesters is staging a protest 65 metres above the ground to try and save an ancient forest on the Australian island of Tasmania.

Seven demonstrators - four from Australia and three others from Japan, Canada and Germany - have climbed a 400-year-old tree and said they would stay there until their demands were met.

The demonstrators - from the environmental group Greenpeace and Australian local groups - said that the hardwood forest in Tasmania's Styx Valley was due to be cut down to provide woodchip.

"We want people to know that woodchip exports are killing one of the world's most valuable forests," said Greenpeace campaign manager Danny Kennedy.

"Importers should source woodchips from plantations, not ancient forests."

The protesters want the Australian government to make the area a national park.

The Styx Valley includes some of the world's tallest hardwood trees and has been identified as a candidate for world heritage status by the World Heritage Foundation.

But the Australian government has not endorsed the proposal.

It said that 40% of Tasmania's forests were already protected and that the issue was not open for discussion.

"This was all determined six years ago and the federal government won't be revisiting its decision," the Conservation Minister Ian Macfarlane said.