1. Preamble

This Scoping Agreement is to record the arrangements agreed by the New South Wales and Commonwealth Governments (the Parties) to undertake the first review of performance against the agreed milestones and commitments of the three New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 38-41 of the Eden RFA, Clauses 40-43 of the North East NSW RFA and Clauses 38-41 of the Southern RFA.

The provisions of this Scoping Agreement are not intended to give rise to legally enforceable rights or obligations between the Parties.

The Parties recognise that this Scoping Agreement cannot impose on a party any obligation that is inconsistent with a law of New South Wales or the Commonwealth of Australia where that law is binding on that party.

2. Background

The State of New South Wales and the Commonwealth of Australia made the RFAs as follows:

The RFAs:

(a) identify areas in the region or regions that the Parties believe are required for the purposes of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System, and provides for the conservation of those areas; and

(b) provide for the ecologically sustainable management and use of forested areas in the regions; and

(c) are for the purpose of providing long-term stability of forests and forest industries; and

(d) have regard to studies and projects carried out in relation to all of the following matters that are relevant to the regions:

(i) environmental values, including Old Growth, Wilderness, endangered species, National Estate Values and World Heritage Values;

(ii) Indigenous heritage values;

(iii) economic values of forested areas and forest industries;

(iv) social values (including community needs); and

(v) principles of Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management.

The duration of each RFA is twenty years, which can be extended with the agreement of both Parties as part of the third five yearly review. Each RFA has a requirement for five year reviews.

The three New South Wales RFAs were developed as a result of Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRAs) undertaken by the Commonwealth Government and the Government of New South Wales.

Each of the New South Wales RFAs includes the requirement for reporting. This occurs through:

• Annual reports for the first five years; and
  
• Five yearly reviews of performance against the specified milestones and commitments.

3. The RFA Requirements for Five Year Reviews

The three RFAs require that:

“Within each five year period, a review of the performance of the Agreement will be undertaken. The purpose of the five-yearly review is to provide an assessment of progress of the Agreement against the established milestones, and will include:

(a) The extent to which milestones and obligations have been met, including management of the National Estate;

(b) The results of monitoring of Sustainability Indicators; and

(c) Invited public comment on the performance of the Agreement.”

Additionally, parameters for the review, as specified in each RFA include:

- The mechanism for the review will be agreed by the Parties;

- The five year reviews/report on performance will not open up the Agreement to re-negotiation, both Parties may agree to some minor modifications to incorporate the results of the reviews on performance;

- “The outcomes of the review will be made public”;

- “….the review will be completed within three months”;

- Outcomes of the five-yearly review of performance against milestones and commitments will be tabled in Federal Parliament.

4. Principles for Conduct of the Review

The purpose of this review is to assess and report on progress achieved since the RFAs were signed with implementation of the milestones and commitments specified in each RFA and it will not open up the Agreement to re-negotiation.

In undertaking the review the Parties agree that they are jointly responsible for the review and agree to undertake such measures as are necessary to ensure effective coordination and communication within and between both Parties to enable the conclusion of the review.

The review will avoid duplication of process and take into account and utilise other State and National forest processes and reporting requirements.

The Parties recognise their responsibility to account for the management of New South Wales’ forests under the RFAs. Therefore the conduct of the review is to be undertaken in a manner that:

- is open, transparent and equitable;

- is consistent with other forest management and reporting requirements; and

- is reliant on objective, documented information on milestone progress as required by the RFA.

5. Limitations of the Review

The review of the NSW Regional Forest Agreements will not lead to re-negotiation of the scope of the agreements. The review will concentrate on the progress achieved against the milestones listed in RFA documents for the first five years. Both Parties may agree to some minor modifications to incorporate the results of the review.

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