Tasmania’s sustainable

forest management

reporting, in the national

and international context

Research by theAustralian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences20 November 2017

Claire HowellNational Forest Inventory, ABARES

Forest Practices Authority‘looking back – looking forward’30 Years of Tasmania’s forest practices system

2ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 20 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

• Tasmaniao Forest Practices Systemo State of the forests Tasmania reports

• National SFM reporting processeso Policies, frameworks and peopleo Australia’s State of the Forests Report

• International contexto Montréal Processo UNFAO Global Forest Resources Assessmento UN Sustainable Development Goals

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 320 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

• Forest Practices System

— Legal and policy framework

o Forest Practices Acto Forest Practices Code 2000o Forest Practice Planso Regional Forest Agreement

— Planning and implementationo Prepare and certify plans in accordance with the code

— Independent monitoring and enforcement

— Review and improvement

• State of the forests Tasmania reports

Tasmania

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 420 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

• National Forest Policy Statement 1992

– commits to publish a five-yearly review of the state of the forests:

...forest management agencies' provision...of appropriate information from which to produce and publish a 'state of the forests' review every five years. The review will summarise available information, including the basis of sustainable forest yield and other values, moves to achieve a comprehensive nature conservation reserve network, and the results of long term monitoring of the impacts of forest use.

- and maintain the National Forest Inventory

• The Commonwealth Regional Forest Agreements Act 2002

– commits the Commonwealth to creating a publicly available source of information on all Australia’s forests

National forest policies, frameworks and people

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 520 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

The national framework...

• The Montréal Process framework of criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management

• Certification – Australian Forestry Standard

The people...

• Forestry and Forest Products Committee

– National Forest Inventory Steering Committee

– Montréal Process Implementation Group for Australia

National forest policies, frameworks and people

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 620 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Australia’s State of the Forests Report (SOFR) series

Montréal Process Criteria

1. Biodiversity

2. Productive capacity

3. Ecosystem health

4. Soil & water

5. Carbon

6. Social & economic benefits

7. Legal & institutional framework

Montréal Process framework of Criteria & Indicators

Australia uses 44 indicators that map to the

international Montréal Process framework

and align with other international reporting

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 820 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Implementation of Montréal Process framework of criteria and indicators in states and territories

• State and territory government legislation

• State and territory forest management plans

• State and territory reporting

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 920 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Australia’s forest cover2013

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1020 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Australia’s forest tenure

Multiple-use public forest – 10.2 million hectares (8%)

Nature conservation reserve – 21.5 million hectares (18%)

Other Crown land – 8.1 million hectares (7%)

Private (including Indigenous) – 33.4 million hectares (27%)

Leasehold forest – 48.5 million hectares (40%)

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1120 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Average annual harvest & sustainable yield for multiple-use public forest

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

1992-3 to 1995-6 1996-7 to 2000-1 2001-2 to 2005-6 2006-7 to 2010-11

Saw

log

har

vest

(th

ou

san

d c

ub

ic m

etr

es)

Sustainable level Actual level

Source: Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1220 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Harvesting in multiple-use public native forests

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Are

a (h

ect

are

s)

Clear-felling Clear-felling (fire salvage)

Clear-felling (intensive silviculture with retention) Shelter-wood

Selection Selection (native cypress pine silviculture)

Selection (commercial thinning)

Source: Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1320 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Indigenous owned and/or managed forests

• 34% - Indigenous forest estate as proportion of total forest• 76% - of total Indigenous forest estate is in NT & Qld

Indigenous managed

Indigenous co-managed

Other special rights

Indigenous owned and managed

Source: Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1420 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Australia’s protected forestsInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

• 18% - Nature Conservation Reserve• 32% - managed for conservation objectives

Source: Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1520 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

• Policies, processes and procedures

— Montréal Process o Framework of 7 criteria and set of indicators

o Five-yearly reporting

o Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russian Federation, USA, Uruguay

— UNFAO Global Forest Resources Assessmento Collaborative forest resources questionnaire (CFRQ)

— UN Sustainable Development Goals

International forest reporting

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1620 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

10 countries with the largest area of forest

Where are the world’s forests?

Source: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1720 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

GFRA 2015: 21 questions, 120 variables

- Area of forest and change

- Area of plantation and change

- Stocks and growth rates, and change

- Forest production, and change

- Protection of soil, water and ecosystem services

- Protection of biodiversity

- Forest affected by woody invasive species

- Area ‘damaged’ each year

- Reduced canopy cover

- Forest policy and regulatory frameworks

- Stakeholder participation

- Permanent forest

- Certified forests

- Expenditure and revenue

- Ownership and management

- Employment

FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment

ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 1920 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Tasmania -> Australia -> Global

• Collaboration and consultation across governments and stakeholders ownership + trust

• Consistency, efficiencies for collection and reporting of forest-related information value in process + outputs

• Relevant & meaningful at various scales coupe, state, national, international

• Credibility & transparency

• Collective understanding ofsustainable forest management

21ABARESDepartment of Agriculture and Water Resources 20 November 2017FPA – Looking back - looking forward

Thank youE: claire.howell@agriculture.gov.au

W: www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia