Protecting old growth forests
Old-growth forests are one of the most contentious issues in the Australian forest debate. The term evokes images of ancient forests, tall majestic trees providing a spiritual link with the past, an expression of natural beauty, a practical haven or refuge for our unique flora and fauna.
Defining a term as value-laden as old-growth forests, translating it into national public policy, assessing it across a vast array of ecosystems and applying it in a practical way through nationally agreed criteria (JANIS) was one of the greatest challenges of the RFA process.
Given the issue's complexity, the RFA process made considerable advances in the identification and protection of old-growth forests.
For a start, RFAs led to the development of a nationally agreed definition of old-growth forests.
Comprehensive regional assessments of old-growth forest delivered, for the first time, a thorough knowledge of their extent and distribution in RFA regions.
The Nationally Agreed Criteria for the Establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System for Forests in Australia (JANIS 1997) included specific targets for old-growth forests by forest ecosystem. The base target was for protection of 60 per cent of the current extent of old-growth forests for each forest ecosystem. Reservation can occur above this level in certain situations, identified on a case by case basis for each ecosystem. The criteria provided for 100 per cent reservation of old-growth forests that are rare or depleted.
Old-growth forest protection across the 10 RFA regions is 3.7 million hectares, representing some 73 per cent of the total area of old-growth forest.