21 March 2022
On today’s International Day of Forests, Australians should celebrate our amazing natural and plantation forests, which provide habitat for our wildlife, recreational areas, essential timber and paper products, and store carbon from the atmosphere, Australian Forest Products Association NSW CEO Victor Violante said today.
NSW has more than 20 million of forested area, comprising a mix of nature reserves and National Parks, multi-use public forests managed for a range of uses including timber production, plantation forests, and native forest on private land.
“NSW residents can be proud of our forest estate, whether they are plantations or managed native forests – we do sustainable forest management in NSW better than just about anywhere in the world,” Mr Violante said.
“International Day of Forests is a day to celebrate our forests while recognising that we need more timber and fibre for our cleaner, more environmentally friendly, carbon‑conscious future. That’s why we need to grow our plantation estate and ensure continued timber production from our multi-use public forests in NSW.”
This year’s International Day of Forests theme is ‘Forests and sustainable production and consumption’.
“It is encouraging that this year’s theme celebrates the sustainable, renewable products that come from our multi-use and plantation forests, which in Australia are replanted and regenerated after harvest to ensure that there is no net loss of forested area.
“Meanwhile, the essential timber and paper products that are manufactured locally supports tens of thousands of jobs and are a vital part of the economy – from the timber in our homes, the paper packaging that transports our food, to the timber pallets used by our supermarkets.”
Sustainable forestry also maximises the carbon benefit of our forests. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 4th Assessment Report) states that:
“A sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.”
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