Protecting our Forest Environment

Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) safeguard biodiversity, old-growth forests, wilderness, and other natural and cultural values. They achieve this outcome by setting aside representative areas of forest in conservation reserves, through the targets outlined in the nationally agreed criteria (JANIS) for a Comprehensive Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system and through sustainable forest management outside of reserves.

The RFA process added more than 2.9 million hectares to our already extensive forest reserves. It boosted the total area of forest in reserves by about 39 per cent, and brought the percentage of public land within reserves to more than 60 per cent in RFA regions. Around 90 per cent of high quality wilderness in RFA regions is reserved.

The level of public forest reservation in RFA regions is very high by world standards.

Forests outside conservation reserves are available for wood production and other uses and are subject to substantial regulation and control that ensure long-term sustainability and contribute to the protection of their natural and cultural values.

Teams of scientists undertook wide-ranging research, fieldwork and analysis during the biodiversity assessments of each RFA region. They reviewed existing information and added a welter of new material about individual flora and fauna species and their habitats, forest ecosystems, species communities and threatening processes. The fruit of their efforts is evident in the steps taken through the RFAs to protect endangered and rare flora and fauna.

The RFA process also made considerable progress in identifying and protecting old growth forests. Governments developed a nationally agreed definition of old-growth forests. A major mapping project provided for the first time a thorough knowledge of the extent and distribution of old-growth forests in our RFA regions. The process increased old-growth forest protection by 42 per cent to 3.4 million hectares in the RFA regions, representing some 68 per cent of the total area of old-growth forest.