Country Profile

Overview of Forestry & Trade in Australia

According to Australia's State of the Forest Report 2008, Australia’s forest cover stands at about 149 million hectares: 1,82 million hectares is plantation and about 147 million hectares is natural forest, or about 19% of Australia’s land area. The last State of the Forests’ report in 2003 estimated Australia’s forest cover at 164 million hectares, the 2008 report states that the revision in figures is due to “improved data resolution and better forest typing” and that “little of the change is due to real forest loss.” The Australian Greenhouse Office estimated that the net loss of woody vegetation between 2000-2004 was about 1 million hectares. About 67% of the forest is classified as woodland forest, predominantly found on leasehold land in Northern Australia.

The bulk of the natural forest within the Regional Forest Agreement regions (forest estate where nearly all of Australia’s commercial forestry is conducted) is on public land managed by the State governments. About 74% of natural forest is available for timber harvesting, subject to site-related environmental and economic considerations.

Australia’s 2020 Vision is to increase the plantation estate to 3 million hectares of plantation by 2020. Currently, the plantation estate is expanding at about 70,000 hectares per year, mostly on long-cleared agricultural land. The notable exception is Tasmania, where 6,459 hectares of plantation was established following clearfell logging of natural forests (2004-2005).

About 13% of Australia’s natural forest is in conservation reserves, including approximately 70% of the old growth forest that has been mapped. To date 10% of Australia's native forest estate has been mapped to identify the forest growth stage. Of Australia’s forest dependent species, 4.7% of plants and 2.3% of animals are listed as critically endangered or vulnerable.

A major threat to Australia’s forest biodiversity is land clearing for agriculture and plantation establishment. The Australian Government's State of the Environment Report (2001) named land clearing the single biggest threat to wildlife in Australia. In Tasmania, of a total 12,591 hectares of natural forest approved for clearfell logging in 2004-2005 by the Tasmanian Government, 51% was to be replaced by plantations and 12% converted to non-forest land use.

Forest biodiversity is also threatened by logging of high conservation value forest. Whilst the bulk of natural forest logging occurs in regrowth forest, approximately 27% of the identified old growth forest is available for logging.

Australians are major consumers of forest products. In 2006-2007, Australians used over 6.6 million cubic metres of solid timber and 4 million tonnes of paper, or about 550 kg for every Australian. Australia is a net importer of pulp and paper as well as importing sawn timber, and consequently Australia’s forest ‘footprint’ extends to over 31 countries. In particular, Australia is a major importer of sawn timber from New Zealand, Czech Republic and Indonesia. A substantial amount of our paper products are imported from Korea and China.

For more forest product consumption, production, import and export statistics visit the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics website and look for the latest Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics report.

Sources
National Forest Inventory 2005
Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2008
State of the Environment Report 2001
Forest Practices Authority (Publications)
Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics

Certification in Australia

Currently there are two certification systems available in Australia, the globally applicable Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS).

As of June 2006, over 5.7 million hectares of Australia forest was certified, 5.2 million hectares under the Australian Forestry Standard and 0.5 hectares under Forest Stewardship Council.

Based on World Bank-WWF Alliance criteria of credible certification, currently the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system meets all the necessary elements for credible certification. More information about credible certification assessment can be found at www.forest-alliance.org

Illegal Logging Issue

Illegal logging is widespread in many countries however it is a particular problem in developing countries with poor governance or forest law enforcement. Globally, the value of illegally logged timber is estimated to be as much as US$22.5 billion.

A report commissioned by the Australian Government reveals the extent of illegally logged timber imports into Australia. The Jaako Poyry report, Overview of Illegal Logging, estimates that each year about $450 million of illegally logged timber is imported into Australia, representing about 9% of Australia's timber imports.

WWF is recommending four key actions for the Australian Government, timber importers and Australian business, to stop the importation and use of illegally harvested timber.

1. Australian Government commitment to end the importation of illegally harvested timber
2. Australian Government assistance to strengthen forest management in producer countries with problems with illegal logging
3. Timber importers to verify legality of imports
4. Australian businesses to develop and implement an environmentally responsible timber and paper purchasing policy

For more information, download the WWF Australia's Statement on the Importation of Illegally Logged Timber into Australia

Towards the end of 2006 the Australian Government released a discussion paper on illegal logging "Bringing down the axe on illegal logging" WWF-Australia responded to the call for submissions on the discussion paper's contents. Download WWF's response.

For more information on WWF-Australia's conservation work, go to www.wwf.org.au