Knowledge and expertise from First Nations people will play a key role in managing Australia’s forests sustainably and for long-term use, which could fuel the next generation of wood products—not only in traditional plantation forests but also in the emerging agroforestry area.
That is according to Professor Mark Brown, the head of a new $24m centre for timber research located at the University of Sunshine Coast. Professor Brown said sustaining, managing, and rehabilitating Australia’s tropical and subtropical forests and finding innovative solutions for the forest and wood products industry is vital to the new centre’s work.
“This includes growing more trees sustainably in forestry areas and developing innovative timber products using carbon-friendly building systems,” Professor Brown said, adding that “invasive weeds, pests, diseases, extreme weather, and climate change are some of the issues facing Australia’s diverse forest ecosystem.”
As reported by Wood Central earlier this month, the Sunshine Coast is one of three research institutions that will share in more than $100m of research from the newly established Australian Forest and Wood Innovation program, chaired by former Forestry Australia President Bob Gordon.
For Professor Helen Bartlett, the Sunshine Coast’s Vice Chancellor, the new centre “aligns with the university’s highest priorities – ensuring the sustainably of our natural world, focusing on balancing the environment and economic outcomes through forestry research that drives knowledge and impact.”
The university has emerged as a national leader in timber research, and in 2016, the Australian Government established the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life on the Sipping Downs campus grounds. With the new hub, a collaboration between eight Queensland and NSW universities and the Queensland, NSW, and Northern Territory governments.
Headed by Professor Brown, potential projects include new and innovative ways to incorporate timber production into other land uses, strongly emphasising agriculture, grazing, water management, and mine site rehabilitation. Agroforestry has become a strong area for investment after the government removed the much-maligned “water rule” (due to come into effect in June this year) to stimulate investment in tree planting.
“We look forward to working with other AWFI regional research centres (one in Melbourne – at the University of Melbourne, and another in Launceston – at the Unversity of Tasmania) to make the national institute a success and welcome a strong innovation and collaboration across the sector,” Professor Brown said.
The new investment comes after Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) published a report last month outlining opportunities for indigenous-led forestry to drive a green economy in Northern Australia.
Published on the FWPA website, it confirmed that East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory has at least 3 million hectares of “globally important biodiversity and ecosystem potential” that is “suitable for commercial wood production.”
For Adjunct Professor Mark Annandale – also based at Sunshine Coast University, Coast’sject demonstrates the potential for timber and non-timber-based forest products, including payment for ecosystem services that could underpin Indigenous-led commercial forestry in the region.
Adjunct Professor Annandale said the project successfully raised regional “stakeholder awareness of sustainable native forestry and expanded interest in this industry and its potential to support Indigenous livelihoods and regional development.”
- Click on Wood Central’s special feature for more information about the new AFWI Program and the hubs launched by Australia’s Minister for Agriculture and Forestry Murray Watt last week.
