The co-founder and CEO of the world’s first international coalition for sustainable forestry has been confirmed as one of the latest speakers lined up for Forestry Australia’s 2026 Forest Valuation Summit in Melbourne later this month.
Wood Central understands that Ross Hampton, Chief Executive Officer of the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition, will join Tony McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Midway; Jacquie Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Forestry Australia; Glen Rivers of Ahmu Consulting; and Keith Lamb of Aray, who is also serving as summit convenor.
Running Monday and Tuesday, 30 March and 31 March at Melbourne’s Rendezvous Hotel, the summit — Valuing and Reporting Sustainability in our Forests — will bring valuers, investors, managers and policy specialists together to examine how Australia’s new mandatory sustainability reporting rules, AASB S1 and AASB S2, are reshaping forest asset valuations.
Hampton previously served as the long-running Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association. In addition, he was twice elected Chair of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-Based Industries — the Rome-headquartered body known as ACSFI — where he remains a member. The ISFC represents more than 24 forestry companies stewarding over 31 million hectares across 41 countries.
Australia and New Zealand’s first joint Forest Valuation Standard.
The headline event is the launch of the first Joint Australia–New Zealand Forest Valuation Standard. Developed by Forestry Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry, with key support from Forest and Wood Products Australia, it updates national frameworks last revised in 2010 in Australia and 1999 in New Zealand.
“This conversion, this summit and this standard come at such a critical time for forestry,” said Lamb. Australia’s forestry sector makes a major contribution to the rural economy and is among the best-managed globally across economic, environmental, and social criteria. Australia’s forestry professionals can be proud of their long history of good stewardship of our forests.”
The program also covers the draft Carbon Standard, natural capital in financial reporting, shifting land values and the expanding role of forests in climate and biodiversity markets. Speakers drawn from J.P. Morgan, Deloitte, Munich Re, Manulife Investment Management, the Clean Energy Regulator, the Australian Accounting Standards Board and the University of Melbourne are among more than 20 confirmed for the two-day program.
It comes as Australian forest owners face their first mandatory sustainability reporting deadline under AASB S1 and AASB S2, with the summit timed to land weeks before compliance obligations begin to bite. To register or view the full program, visit the Forestry Australia website.
