Victoria's State of the Forest Report 2008
In Australia, the most recent State of the Forests Report for Victoria reveals that two-thirds (2/3) of the indicators for conservation of biological diversity have no data and those that do, show that our forest biodiversity is in crisis. The state government is supplying 80% of this wood for wood chips that are ending up in products such as Reflex copy paper. Based on VicForests' (Government agency for selling native forests) accreditation to the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS), some industry supply-chain participants are claiming that their native forest raw material is coming from sustainable sources.
Sustainability underpins the Victorian Regional Forest Agreement and only when this is achieved, does logging of native forests become a legal activity.
Here are some highlights:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and it's not otherwise noted so this data is out of date.
the 2008 State of the Forests report:
Indicator 1.2b Area of habitat available for forest
dependent indicator species
NO DATA
Indicator 1.2c Representative indicator species
from a range of habitats monitored at scales
relevant to regional forest management
NO DATA
Indicator 1.2d Degree of disturbance to native
forest species caused by invasive species
NO DATA
Indicator 1.3a The number of forest dependent
species at risk from isolation that may lead to
loss of genetic variation
NO DATA
Indicator 2.2 Volume of wood by forest type
in State forest that is available and suitable for
timber production
Data available only for east of state
Indicator 2.4 Annual production of non-wood
forest products
No data provided (not clear if this is available)
Indicator 4.1 Area and percentage of forest by
activity type systematically assessed for risk to soil
attributes
No data provided for area assessed
Indicator 4.2 Change in forested catchment
water yield characteristics through time
There is currently no comprehensive data on forested catchment water yields
Indicator 4.3 Change in forested catchment river
health characteristics through time
No indication that DSE has been systematically monitoring river health
Indicator 6.1b Value ($) and yield of non-wood
forest products
NO DATA
Indicator 6.1c Value ($) of forest derived
ecosystem services
NO DATA
Indicator 6.1d Degree of reuse and recycling of
wood products
Limited data only
Indicator 6.3c Number of visits per annum
"Number of visits per annum to forest is better known in nature conservation reserves than for state forest"
Indicator 6.5c Resilience of forest dependent
communities to changing social and economic
conditions
"Currently not possible to measure"
Indicator 6.5d Resilience of forest dependent
Indigenous communities to changing social and
economic conditions
"Currently not possible to measure"
Indicator 6.5e Area of forest available and
accessible for Indigenous people to exercise their
inherent rights to meet subsistence or individual
and family cultural and spiritual needs
"Not possible to report on this indicator at the present time"
Indicator 7.4 Capacity to measure and monitor
changes in the conservation and sustainable
management of forests
"Victoria's capacity to report on sustainable forest management is limited by data/
information availability and an inability to report long term trends for most indicators"
Download Victoria's State of the Forest Report 2008
