Plantation Management
Certification
What is Sustainable Forest Management?
Sustainable forest management (SFM) aims to manage planted or native forests to maintain their full range of benefits - environmental, economic and social.
The relative importance of these benefits or values will vary depending on the nature of the forest and community expectations. The concept of SFM has a long and evolving history in Australia. During the 20th Century, public forested areas - initially set aside to stop conversion to agricultural use - were managed to protect a range of forest values.
As our understanding of forest ecology has increased and community attitudes have changed, management practices have also changed to meet sustainable wood yield and maintain and protect other forest values. These management practices are applicable to public and private natural forest and plantations.
The 1992 National Forest Policy Statement adopts three principles as the basis for sustainable forest management:
- maintaining the ecological processes within forests (the formation of soil, energy flows, and the carbon, nutrient and water cycles)
- maintaining the biological diversity of forests, and
- optimising the full range of environmental, economic and social benefits to the community from all uses of forests within ecological constraints.
SFM principles for Australian plantations are supported by the development and implementation of:
- Codes of practice (refer Regulation & Planning Section) for plantation management,
- Development of Montreal Process Indicators for sustainable forest management, and
- Environmental management systems and sustainable forest management certification schemes.
