Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2008 has been released by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The 2008 report was prepared by the Montreal Process Implementation Group for Australia (MIG) on behalf of the Australian, state and territory governments. It can be viewed on adl.brs.gov.au. A3P CEO Neil Fisher said, “The report is a comprehensive document that fulfils a commitment under the National Forest Policy Statement by providing the public with detailed information on the state of Australia’s forests.”The report highlights that turnover of Australia’s forest product industries increased in real terms by about 10% to more than A$19 billion between 2000-01 and 2005-06. The trade deficit in timber products increased from A$1.7 billion in 2001-02 to A$1.9 billion in 2006-07. Other key findings of the report include:
•The area of plantations increased from 1.63 Mha to 1.82 Mha (over the period of the reporting)
•Plantations now produce two-thirds of the country’s log supply
•While the area of softwood plantations has been stable for several years, the area of hardwood plantations has increased substantially, from 503,000 ha in 2000 to 807,000 ha in 2006
•Hardwoods make up 45% of plantation grown pulp logs; softwoods provide 55% of the plantation pulp log supply and 98% of sawlogs
•Based on current plantings, total wood production from softwood plantations is nearing its maximum potential and is expected to plateau by 2010, while total production from hardwood plantations will increase substantially, to over 14 million m3/y by 2010
•The volume of recovered paper exported increased by 250% to nearly 1.1 Mt, mainly due to increased demand in China
However, not all the news is good as the country is suffering a critical shortage of foresters. The Institute of Foresters of Australia (IFA) staged a Tertiary Forestry Education Summit at the Australian National University in Canberra on May 20. The Institute held the Summit to bring together key stakeholders to address the critical shortage of professional foresters caused by the lack of students enrolling for tertiary forestry education courses. Representatives – over 70 people – from the forestry industry, governments, academia, students, forestry organisations and IFA members attended. Members of the IFA and University providers of tertiary forestry education had observed a diminishing number of students entering tertiary forestry education courses despite high demand for professional foresters in the industry and government agencies. Forestry requires a high level of specialisation and diversity among course providers. Unfortunately current University funding models in Australia have made it extremely difficult for anyone University to provide this, without adequate student numbers. It is estimated that an intake of about 50 to 80 students will be required each year to justify the continued existence of forestry courses at Australian Universities and to supply the demand.
