Reduced harvesting in Australia’s native forests is driving timber demand offshore to countries with a high risk of illegal logging and deforestation, a pattern that has pushed the nation’s overseas harvest footprint far beyond the domestic one it is meant to replace. That is according to Dr Tyron Venn, one of the country’s preeminent forest economists, who delivered the keynote address at this year’s Primex Forest Industries Dinner in Lismore, NSW, last night.
Addressing 100 stakeholders at the dinner — including Kevin Hogan, Australia’s Shadow Assistant Treasurer and federal member for Page, Lismore mayor Steve Krieg and deputy mayor Jeri Hall, NSW Farmers vice-president Rebecca Reardon and senior figures from the TFTU, formerly the CFMEU Manufacturing Division — Dr Venn provided an update on research first revealed at last year’s Forestry Australia symposium in Adelaide.
According to Dr Venn, the volume of timber cut in Australia’s native forests has fallen by 75 per cent over the past three decades, with local hardwoods used for floors, windows and joinery displaced by a surge of tropical timber from countries with high risks of deforestation, degradation and timber trafficking. “Imports make up 46 per cent of timber traded in Australia,” Dr Venn told the dinner, a rise from just 24 per cent in 1996.
And of those imports, Dr Venn revealed that about half originate in countries rated as high-risk for illegal harvesting, deforestation, and forest degradation, with large volumes routed through China and traced back to PNG, the Solomon Islands, Russia, South and Central America, and Southeast Asia.
Dr Venn’s past research, which he said will soon be released in an upcoming journal, showed that Australia’s native forest policy has cut 36,000 hectares of certified native forest from harvesting each year, a figure displaced by more than 46,000 hectares of cutting in high-risk tropical forests. “Australian forest policy is unintentionally threatening global efforts to conserve biodiversity and mitigate climate risk,” he told last year’s symposium.
Dr Venn’s keynote was the headline of a broad speaking programme run across the three days by the North East NSW Regional Forestry Hub, covering everything from valuing the forest on a private landholding through to carbon credits, high-value hardwood furniture and the restoration of degraded landscapes. Crowds of students moved through the forestry exhibits and pressed speakers with challenging questions across the event.
According to Nick Cameron, the North East NSW Regional Forestry Hub manager, the response from younger visitors had been striking, with secondary students drawn to forestry careers and primary-aged children captivated by the machinery at work. “The primary students loved watching the equipment demonstrations,” Cameron said.
Meanwhile, Andrew Hurford, chair of Timber NSW and chief executive of the Hurford Group, said the reaction from students and the general public pointed to a high level of social licence for the forestry sector. Exhibitors ranged from plantation growers SuperForest Plantations and Hurford Forests through to Koppers, whose timber utility poles carry much of the Australian electricity network, alongside sawmillers producing flooring and decking.
Please note: Dr Venn’s updated research is partly funded by the North East NSW Forestry Hub, one of 11 Commonwealth-funded Regional Forestry Hubs designed to support growth, strategic planning, and innovation in the forest industries across key regions. To learn more about the North East NSW Forestry Hub, click here for more information.
