A move by the Australian government to abolish the laws protecting forests in Victoria from logging have been welcomed by the forestry industry.
The government insists the focus will be on sustainability while the moves are intended to safeguard the long-term future of the industry in the region. It plans to do this by increasing the influence of the government-owned timber agency VicForests, which will now be responsible for ensuring that only a sustainable amount of timber is felled each year.
In a bid to increase investment in the industry, the government is also planning to increase the length of native timber contracts from the current five years cap, to 20 years. The new plan also involves a possible review of timber legislation and the allowing of ‘ecological thinning’ of certain areas of forests.
Peter Walsh, Australia’s agriculture minister, said that Victoria’s natural forests are a “magnificent and renewable resource” that could be the basis of a thriving industry, with plenty of longevity. He added, “There is absolutely nothing sinister in this. It is about, in the areas that were going to be logged, giving certainty to the industry and making sure forests are managed appropriately.”
Providing forestry is managed sustainable, it can provide a livelihood for communities while protecting the long-term health of a forested region. Plantation projects such as those operated by Greenwood Management, a forestry investment company, in Brazil, can also help to increase the volume forested land and protect natural forests from illegal logging.
