Issue and Opponent: In 1978, the Pureora forest became a logging site, and many trees were cut down. The issue at hand was the deforestation of a national forest in New Zealand, which would have environmental effects.
Dilemma Action: The widely held belief here was that deforestation is bad for the environment and isn’t the will of the people in New Zealand. After the site began to be logged, protestors built treehouses on large trees and began occupying the area. Loggers could not cut down trees, as activists refused to leave the makeshift treehouses. Loggers attempted to get them to come down, but they refused. As media coverage rose and tensions grew, the activists were successful.
Outcomes: This is believed to be the first instance of occupying space in trees to prevent their destruction and was very successful. The media attention to the event was huge, highlighting the protestor’s tactics. Before the protestors ended their occupation, they wanted logging to be permanently ended, creating the government-imposed logging moratorium.