Forest policy lost in the wood

Editorial Opinion, The Age, Friday 2/3/2001

At its starkest, it is a see-sawing struggle between conservationists who can't see the wood for the trees and loggers who can't see the trees for the wood. Each side is convinced of the justice of its cause and at times the passionate partisanship has led to violent clashes. Those with a clearer view of the complex political, economic, environmental and social issues involved find it harder to come to a balanced conclusion. There are compelling interests to reconcile and daunting implications to confront. The Victorian Government has tried, with Commonwealth financial help, to restructure the timber industry under five regional forest agreements. This compromise has satisfied neither of the main protagonists.

The credibility of this intervention has been thrown into renewed doubt by the disclosure of a confidential industry briefing paper admitting that the state's forests are being extensively over-logged. Indeed, it warns that current logging rates must be reduced by 20 per cent, not only to preserve native forests but to ensure the survival of a sustainable timber industry. Much as this acknowledgement will be welcomed by conservationists, it is ominous news for the timber industry and the struggling regional communities that it supports. The document also reveals culpable flaws in logging records which inflated official estimates of available timber and encouraged the industry grossly to over-invest and over-log.

The government now has to deal with the consequences of this mismanagement. The long-term goal should be clear enough. The industry must be weaned from felling in old-growth native forests to an accelerated reliance on plantation timber. Also, it makes neither economic nor environmental sense to allow high-grade timber resources to be destroyed for low-value woodchips, or to burn timber "waste" that could be salvaged for low-grade products. In the meantime, the state faces the costly obligation to review its ill-founded forest agreements, hasten the restructuring program, reduce logging in sensitive areas and cope with inevitable job losses and social disruption.

Finding an acceptable balance between timber harvesting and conservation is difficult for all governments, but particularly so for Labor administrations. On one hand, Labor strongly depends on the "green" vote, as shown by the recent Western Australian elections, and on growing environmental concerns in the broader community. On the other, it is susceptible to trade union and regional pressures to save jobs and dependent communities. But if the briefing document is correct, the government will have to persuade the industry that the only realistic alternatives are rationalisation now or annihilation down the track.

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