Welcome to Issue 11 of In Focus: the newsletter of Plantations For Australia: The 2020 Vision. In Focus aims to keep interested groups and individuals informed of plantation development activities and issues around the country
What’s happening?
STOP PRESS - New Minister
We thank Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald, the former Australian government Minister for Fisheries, Forestry & Conservation, for his excellent support and advocacy for the 2020 Vision project since 2001 and wish him well for his ongoing parliamentary career. Senator Macdonald has been replaced in the Ministry with Senator Eric Abetz, who has expressed his intention to work positively and actively for the future of Australia’s important fishing and forestry industries.
While the later months of 2005 saw increasingly focused media attention on some individuals who vigorously oppose plantation expansion in south east NSW and south western Victoria, much positive activity was taking place within the plantation sector. A snapshot from Victoria follows:
A welcome announcement by Australian Paper in late August signalled a new $258 million investment in its Maryvale mill (located in Gippsland, Victoria). A concurrent announcement by Macquarie Bank outlined their intention to seek investments worth $300 million over the next twenty years to establish plantations to supply timber to the upgraded Maryvale mill. In addition Victorian Government investment of $140 million in a new Gippsland waste water facility will result in more recycled water being available for industry and will also accommodate the increased volume of water that will flow from the expanded Pulp Mill and treat it to Class A recycled water standard.
This Victorian Government investment was confirmed in the Provincial statement ‘Moving forward: Making Provincial Victoria the Best Place to Live, Work and Invest’ http://www.business.vic.gov.au/movingforward as contributing to creating 200 long-term jobs and a ‘sustainable long-term future for the State’s timber industry’.
In the ‘Moving Forward’ policy statement the Victorian Government commits to taking ‘further steps to continue to ensure the sustainable development of the plantation and timber processing industries’ by forming a new Sustainable Timber Industry Council ($250,000) and implementing the Plantation Incentives Strategy ($8.2 million).
Also in Victoria, the Code of Forest Practice has been under review in the latter half of 2005; a draft code will be on public display for a 60 day period commencing in early February 2006, with the review team, run by consultancy firm GHD, planning a series of focus group meetings during that period. The documents that will be on display include the Draft revised Code of Forest Practice, an important background paper and a feedback form.
These documents will be available at: Review of Victoria's Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/
For additional info email: forestcodereview@ghd.com.au.
Private Forestry Development Committees in ‘the Paddock’
National Workshop – Katanning Western Australia – September 2005
Private Forestry Development Committees are supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia under the Natural Heritage Trust program in partnership with the various State Governments and are supported by the forest industry, and the community of land managers, to promote opportunities for private forestry development in 21 regions across Australia. At the Australian Forest Growers Policy Forum in October 2005 Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald, the Australia Government Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation announced investment of $3.4 million over the next two years to provide continued regional based support for the growth of sustainable private forestry via the Private Forestry Development Committees.
70 Private Forestry Development Committees Executive Officers, Chairs, Committee members and other industry stakeholders and guests from across all forestry regions of Australia, gathered in the regional township of Katanning in south west Western Australia in September 2005 for the annual National Private Forestry Development Committee workshop. The 2005 workshop focused on the opportunities for farm and commercial scale forestry in medium to low rainfall environments.
Read more >> Private Forestry Development Committees  PDF
(84kb)
2020 Vision Action Forum – Revitalising ‘Plantations for Australia: The 2020 Vision’
A group of 29 people representing the 2020 Vision ‘custodians’ gathered in Canberra in December 2005, contributing to a days dialogue and information sharing to confirm the priority actions that need to be addressed at national, State and regional levels to maintain progress with implementing the 2020 Vision.
I was pleased by the commitment to pre-workshop preparation and participation on the day by senior representatives of the Australian government, all state and territory governments, the three national plantation industry representative bodies – AFG, A3P and NAFI, the National Farmers Federation and private forestry development committee representatives from each state. I consider this an excellent indication of the strength of this long term industry and government partnership.
Discussion focused around four themes; a comprehensive policy approach; regulatory frameworks; community perceptions, socioeconomic impacts and community engagement and industry data and information. Derived from ‘Opportunities and Challenges identified in ‘A Progress Report by the 2020 Vision Partners’ (April 2005) and pre forum preparatory work, which effectively updated the Progress Report, the four themes provided a robust framework for the task of the day.
Discussion was led by Ted Rowley, currently Policy Advisor for NRM, Salinity and Plantation Forestry to the W.A. Government Minister for Agriculture and Forestry; Midwest and Wheatbelt, the Hon Kim Chance.
The final ‘statement’ from the Action Forum is being considered by the participants and will be the subject of recommendation by the Private Forestry Consultative Committee to the Forestry and Forest Products Committee in February 2006 (we love our committees!). It is likely to include commitment to further development of strategic alliances and partnerships between the plantation sector and other sectors of industry, government and community; pursuit of additional recognition of the contribution of forestry plantations to multiple government objectives and environmental services; development of a best practice plantation planning framework for use by Local Government and development of a ‘whole of industry’ communication and engagement strategy.
‘For me the most significant message from the Action Forum was the positive reinforcement of the initiatives underway; as part of a team implementing the strategy, we are on the right track.’
Thanks to the Action Forum participants for their commitment to the event and the 2020 Vision project. We will publish the Action Forum Statement in a subsequent edition of ‘In Focus’.
2020 Vision at the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly November 2005
A major focus for the 2020 Vision project in 2005 was to strengthen the partnership between the plantation sector and local government at all scales. This culminated in a 2020 Vision presence at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly and an excellent meeting held in partnership with Timber Towns Victoria in conjunction with the National General Assembly.
Read more >> 2020 Vision PDF
(86kb)
Socioeconomic impact study identifies key challenges for plantation forest sector (Reprinted from A3P ‘making connections’ December 2005 Issue 9)
In its study of the socio-economic impacts of plantation forestry, the Australian Government's Bureau of Rural Sciences has highlighted four key challenges for the sector.
The research -funded by the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation -examined the Great Southern region of Western Australia and the South-West Slopes region of New South Wales between 1991 and 2004.
Read more in Socio-Economic Reports PDF
(50kb)
Access the reports: http://www.affashop.gov.au/
Lignor Ltd Engineered Strand Lumber Plant set to establish at Albany, W.A.
Lignor Ltd is proposing to develop the world’s first timber stranding plant utilising Australian hardwood eucalypts for the production of a variety of engineered timber products registered as Engineered Strand Lumber and Engineered Strand Board. It is the intention that these products will be used both domestically and for export.
For feedstock the Lignor plant will utilise 2/3 Blue Gum plantation logs and 1/3 Karri, Jarrah and Marri residues acquired from thinning programs. The resulting hardwood products are highly applicable to outdoor timber applications.
The Lignor plant will be constructed on 27 ha of land at a designated industrial timber cluster processing precinct at Mirambeena, 14 km north of the City of Albany, W.A. Logs will be trucked into the precinct from local Blue Gum plantations and smaller farm forestry locations as well as from Manjimup and Pemberton.
The Lignor plant has the support of the Australian and Western Australian Governments and local businesses and communities in the forest growing regions of W.A. The Lignor engineered stranding process will represent a major new industry in the Australian Timber markets. The company has received ‘Major Project Facilitation Status’, which recognises its potential in the Australian and world markets.
Read more about this exciting development: Lignor project overview 1 PDF
(816kb) and Lignor Overview Oct 05 PDF
(36kb)
New Forests Pty Limited sees growth in business
New Forests Pty Limited ("New Forests"), formed in July 2005, is an asset management and advisory business that offers services in the forestry sector, specialising in sustainable forest management and emerging environmental markets. New Forests is supporting institutional investment clients in Australia and the United States. New Forests is also providing advisory and consulting services both domestically and internationally to business, governments and investors on forestry investment and environmental transactions.
David Brand, Managing Director of New Forests, said, “There is significant growth in institutional investor interest in forestry, and a growing interest in investments that can tap into new value from carbon offsets, renewable energy, water markets and even biodiversity conservation.”
Visit www.newforests.com.au
TreeSmart - A sequestration opportunity for carbon neutral travel via harvested eucalypt plantations
Each year the average Australian vehicle emits about 4.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide – the major greenhouse gas. While various attempts are being made in the transport sector to reduce vehicle use, an additional way of reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is to remove them via carbon sequestration in trees.
Responding to this opportunity, Dr Tony Richardson, from The Urban Transport Institute and Green & Gold Tree Farms, has developed the TreeSmart program. In contrast to some other carbon sequestration programs that plant trees and leave them unmaintained as a perpetual forest, the TreeSmart program aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by planting, maintaining and harvesting plantation eucalypt trees. Research by Green & Gold Tree farms, and other projects such as Plantations for Greenhouse, has shown that plantations harvested on a regular rotation can absorb more CO2 over their lifetime than can a perpetual forest, when one accounts for the carbon sequestered in timber products derived from the plantation, or the reduction in fossil fuel use as a result of using the harvested timber as fuelwood.
The TreeSmart program will be funded by individual and corporate subscriptions that relate to greenhouse gas emissions from the travel sector that are being offset ie private vehicles, commercial vehicles, public transport, domestic and international air travel.
Read more about this innovative program at: www.treesmart.com.au
Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development & Climate
You will have seen plenty of media coverage over the last month of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate and its recent meeting in Sydney. On Friday 13 January, Miles Prosser, A3P Senior Policy Analyst, attended a briefing from the Australian Government Departments of Industry, Tourism and Resources and Environment and Heritage on the outcomes of the meeting. Miles has provided the following comments:
The meeting consisted of two distinct components – a Government-Business Roundtable attended by the CEOs of 45 major companies from the six countries (Australia, US, Korea, Japan, China and India), and a Ministerial Meeting. An ABARE Report was also launched at the meeting that described three scenarios demonstrating the emissions reductions that could be achieved by the proposed work of the partnership.
The meeting launched 8 Task Forces and Work Plans covering the areas of:
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cleaner fossil energy;
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renewable energy and distributed generation;
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power generation and transmission;
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steel;
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aluminium;
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cement;
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coal mining; and
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buildings and appliances
The Task Forces are likely to have two Govt and two industry reps from each country and the work plans are very general and high level at the moment. The lack of detail was presented as a positive by the Government as an indication of their willingness to forge a genuine partnership with industry and allow industry to direct the work of the Task Forces.
Australia will be Chair of the Cleaner Fossil Energy Task Force and the Aluminium Task Force as well as co-Chair of the Renewable Energy and Distributed Generation Task Force.
A Communique, Charter and Work Plans from the meeting can be accessed at: http://www.dfat.gov.au/environment/climate/ap6/
As part of the meeting, Australia also announced a further $100 million to invest in lower emission technologies.
The Australian Government will face a substantial challenge in implementing the Partnership. A lot will depend on the effectiveness of the individual Task Forces who will report back over the next year. The next meeting of the Ministers is planned for 2007 (no exact time or place as yet).
Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission - Implications for planning processes for plantations in Victoria with recent inquiry
The Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission concluded a public inquiry into regulatory barriers to regional economic development and presented its report to the Treasurer on 16 June 2005.The Victorian Government had asked the Commission to identify and assess the key regulatory barriers to regional economic development, identify ways to improve the design of relevant laws and regulations, and examine opportunities for simplifying advisory mechanisms and the administration of regulation.
The final inquiry report, ‘Regulation and Regional Victoria: Challenges and Opportunities, final report, June 2005’, was released by the Treasurer on 15 December 2005, simultaneously with the Government’s response to the inquiry final report ‘Victorian Government Response to Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission’s Final report, Regulation and Regional Victoria: Challenges and Opportunities.’
In relation to Forestry the VCEC report recommended (10.1) that the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) develop a new approvals process for the establishment of plantations in which accredited operators would be deemed to comply with planning provisions.
The government response agrees there is scope for improvement in the current system for regulating the establishment and management of timber plantations and states that the Department of Sustainability and the DPI will review the existing regulatory framework in parallel with recently announced review of the Code of Forest Practices for timber Production with the aim of streamlining approval processes, providing greater certainty for industry and engendering confidence with regional communities.
The report and Government response also extensively considers the native vegetation regulatory framework.
The VCEC report and the government response can be found at: http://www.vcec.vic.gov.au/
Narrogin Integrated Processing Plant – a brief update (refer to the previous newsletter for more detail)
The Narrogin Integrated Processing plant is at a late stage of commissioning and has produced heat and charcoal. A German engineer has recently arrived to commission the steam turbine so electricity should be generated shortly. The two other products, activated carbon and eucalyptus oil will be produced in coming weeks. There has been a numerous engineering challenges associated with a brand new process but overall the plant is operating as expected. Western Power Corporation’s plan is to have all components working and full production of 300 tonnes of biomass per week during January 2006. The Oil Mallee Company of Australia is coordinating harvest and transport operations.
A comprehensive Information Memorandum summarising the findings of the innovative demonstration plant is expected to be produced in the second quarter of 2006. This will be a precursor to Western Power seeking submissions on further commercialization of the technology (Update at December 2005).
Bureau of Rural Sciences ‘Approaches to Quantifying Ecosystem Services Provided by Vegetation’ Workshop
Many of you would be aware of a variety of projects being conducted around Australia investigating various aspects of environmental and ecosystem services. It was time to share the learnings, so the Forest and Vegetation Sciences team at BRS ran a workshop in November 2005 that aimed to:
- Discuss and evaluate current approaches for describing and reporting ecosystem services across the whole landscape;
- Identify appropriate methods that inform multiple ecosystem service delivery and policy;
- Explore the potential for developing a consistent national approach for identifying, measuring and evaluating ecosystem services provided by vegetation, and to
- Explore the potential for collaborative partnerships between Commonwealth, state and territory agencies and regional bodies
Papers presented at the workshop and a workshop report and recommendations can be found at the BRS Ecosystem Services website: http://www.daff.gov.au/forest_veg
eCarbon News
eCarbon News is a free emailed monthly digest of greenhouse news from around the world. Regular sections include: Kyoto and emissions; Energy; Climate and climate change; Trading; Conferences; Developments in Australia. E carbon News is produced by the Cooperative Centre for Greenhouse Accounting. See the latest edition and subscribe by clicking on the eCarbon News link at: http://www.greenhouse.crc.org.au.
W.A. Carbon Farming workshops
Learn about carbon market activity and potential buyers; securing carbon sequestration rights and other legal and contractual issues; planning and managing forest sink projects; carbon accounting; carbon pooling and investment structures; and the integration of climate change issues with natural resource management.
Albany Tuesday 7 February Download Flyer PDF
(96kb)
Bunbury Thursday 9 February email: bkeys@dubbo.hassall.com.au for further info.
Contributors:
- Julia Levinson, EO Timber2020
- Richard Stanton, Manager, Policy A3P
- Dr A.J. Richardson, The Urban Transport Institute and Green & Gold Tree Farms
- Dr David Brand, New Forests
- Miles Prosser, Senior Policy Analyst, A3P
- Tym Duncanson, Oil Mallee Company
- Cynthia Maher, Project Officer - Ecosystem Services, Bureau of Rural Sciences
- Jo Roberts, Coordinator, Plantations for Australia: The 2020 Vision
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