The Australian Government Should Create a National Plan for Plantations

THE Australian government should create a national plan for plantations and renew existing regional forest agreements to ensure the timber industry's future, a federal parliamentary inquiry has found. This approach should include whether Australia should aim for wood supply ''self-sufficiency'', an issue of importance for Australia's construction industry. These were some of the key recommendations of the inquiry into the Australian forestry industry by the House of Representatives standing committee on agriculture, resources, fisheries and forestry, released last week. ''Self-sufficiency would see the timber industry make a greater contribution to the construction industry as demand rises for building materials with low embedded energy, such as timber, '' the committee noted. ''It would also reduce reliance on wood sourced from foreign sources, which are often less regulated and environmentally damaging. '' The report's figures showed that in 2010, Australia had a trade deficit in wood products of $1.9 billion - $4.2 billion of imports and $2.3 billion of exports. Imports of construction-related products - sawn wood and panels - totalled $680 million whereas exports of the same products were $212 million. Despite calls from environmentalists to abolish the regional forest agreements, the committee said the RFAs should be reviewed, improved and extended. They provided some certainty for both conservation and wood supply. The committee said the ''peace deal'' being negotiated in Tasmania between industry and environmentalists was a departure from the RFA process, but specific to Tasmania, and could not be extended to other regions of Australia. A national plan for plantations should ensure that the right tree species were planted in appropriate locations and with proper infrastructure. This would include deciding whether long-rotation plantations (more than 20 years) should be a policy aim and what was the best way to fund them, including an assessment of managed investment schemes. The biggest impediment to expanding these plantations was ''the considerable investment period (with increased risks) and the decades-long wait for a return on that investment''. The committee made a total of 19 recommendations to the federal government. Australian Forest Products Association chief executive David Pollard said it was essential that a taskforce involving industry and government be established to ensure key recommendations were followed through. Among the inquiry's recommendations were: ■Promote wood products as replacements for more energy-intensive materials. ■Develop standards quantifying the carbon stored in different wood products made from harvested trees. ■Develop a national plan to provide infrastructure and extension services for farm forestry. Source: smh.com.au