Jump to Navigation

Feed aggregator

Trade agreement with the Gulf is good for NZ wood

Australian timber industry news - Fri, 01/11/2024 - 00:20
The successful conclusion of negotiations on a trade agreement between New Zealand and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is welcomed by New Zealand wood product exporters. Source: Timberbiz New Zealand currently exports around NZ$35 million in value added wood products to the GCC, including panels, paper and planed timber. The removal of all tariffs over a 5-year period and the inclusion of provisions in the trade agreement such as streamlined customs processes and reduced non-tariff barriers, will provide further encouragement to develop this export market for wood products. “GCC countries are motivated towards sustainable construction using mass timber,” said Mark Ross, Chief Executive of the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association. “The adoption of mass timber and wood in construction aligns with the regions vision for sustainable development and green building practices, offering a future market growth opportunity for New Zealand wood product exporters.” The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. “Wood processing provides multiple benefits to New Zealand, and it is positive to see the government removing unnecessary barriers and implementing new trade agreements of future benefit to our industry,” Mr Ross said. “We thank Trade Minister, Todd McClay and his officials for the successful conclusion of the GCC trade deal.” Building on earlier negotiations with the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand’s successful conclusion of negotiations for a NZ/Gulf Co-operation Council Free Trade Agreement should enable further expansion of trade with the GCC’s six members in the Middle East, says the New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF). “The GCC region is New Zealand’s seventh largest export destination” said NZIBF Executive Director Stephen Jacobi. “This new agreement, which has been under development for some time, puts the final touch on the framework for expanding trade ties in the region”. The FTA, once signed and entered into force, involves progressive but significant market opening, moving to 99% tariff elimination across all products over a period of 10 years. The FTA not only provides better market access and trade facilitation for New Zealand businesses in the Gulf region but also undertakings on sustainable development and inclusion, which are a first for the GCC.

Industry dinner in Tasmania embodies the core mission for forestry

Australian timber industry news - Fri, 01/11/2024 - 00:20
In October the Tasmanian Forests and Forest Products Network held its industry dinner, themed Building Strength Together in Launceston. The night really embodied the TFFPN’s core mission, which is to provide a platform for greater connection, cohesion and collaboration within the forest and forest products industry. Source: Timberbiz It was well attended by a diverse range of people from in and around the sector. Building Strength Together was a theme especially chosen for the dinner, not only because it’s a theme which underpins the purpose of the TFFPN, but because it felt like the time was right to remember that we are stronger as a sector together, than when we are apart. Nationally and locally the forests and wood products sector are facing considerable change across multiple fronts and angles, and during times of change, there can be a natural tendency to hunker down, isolate oneself and become more siloed. However, it’s at these times that it is most critical to address challenges and to harness opportunities that change brings. We are stronger if we connect, collaborate and build strength together. The recent situational analysis report by GreenWood Strategy, commissioned by the Tasmania Forestry Hub, outlines some of the opportunities, barriers, and actions for the Tasmanian sector and also comments on the need to work closely and collaboratively. Importantly, it surmises that Tasmania’s forest and wood products sector is primed for growth. When you think about the local, national and global challenges we face of providing resources for our population demands in a sustainable way that addresses climate change, takes significant steps towards a zero carbon economy, and protects and conserves our natural environment for future generations for multiple environmental, economic, social and cultural values, there is one industry that sits at the heart of contributing to that, and that is forestry. The Network is grateful to the guest speakers on the night, Tasmanian JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan and Strategic Advisor and former Premier of Tasmania, the Hon Peter Gutwein, who provided insight into their perspectives and experiences of building strength together with teams and a wide range of stakeholders in their current and previous respective roles. Event sponsors were Indicium Dynamics, Marsh, Pentarch Forestry, Reliance, and Sustainable Timber Tasmania.

New carbon methods for ACCU Scheme should be nature positive

Australian timber industry news - Fri, 01/11/2024 - 00:19
Forestry Australia wants the Federal Government to ensure that new ACCU Scheme carbon methods developed for managing native forests are truly ‘nature positive’, of high integrity and robustness, and will support the long-term health and resilience of our native forests and communities. Source: Timberbiz Acting Forestry Australia President, Dr Bill Jackson said Forestry Australia acknowledged the Australian Government had this week announced a short list of new carbon methods for the ACCU Scheme. The independent Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC) assessed 39 Expressions of Interest submissions for new methods and identified 4 methods for prioritisation: Improved Native Forest Management in Multiple-use Public Forests The New South Wales (NSW) Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water proposed a method to stop or slow down harvesting of publicly owned native forests. Not harvesting the forests for timber or letting them grow older before cutting them down, could enable ACCUs to be issued for storing more carbon. Extending Savanna Fire Management to the Northern Arid Zone The Indigenous Desert Alliance proposed a method to expand fire management to more areas in Australia, particularly lower rainfall areas across northern Australia. This method could reduce emissions while bringing more economic benefits and opportunities for First Nations communities The Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation developed a proposal for a method to receive ACCUs by stopping clearing of native forest regrowth. In Queensland for example, farmers can legally clear land for agriculture. This new method could provide an incentive for them to not clear the land and receive ACCUs for the carbon stored in the forest. Reducing disturbance of coastal and floodplain wetlands by managing ungulates Ungulates are hooved animals like water buffalo and pigs, which are destroying wetlands in northern Australia. “Forestry Australia submitted a strong carbon method proposal for consideration under the Proponent-Led Method Development Process for the ACCU Scheme,” he said. “At this stage, the Forestry Australia-led proposal has not been prioritised; however, we are very encouraged by the advice from the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee that our proposal has excellent alignment with the Offsets Integrity Standards and triage criteria and supported it for development, if or when departmental resources permit,” Dr Jackson said. “Forestry Australia remains fully supportive of its proposed new carbon method and is looking forward to engaging with the Australian Government to progress its further development in the near future. Forestry Australia calls on the Australian Government to commit more resources to the ACCU Scheme and its proponent-led method development process. “The proposed method, Enhancing Native Forest Resilience, is focussed on improving the health and resilience of native forests and encouraging active, adaptive management of native forests across all land tenures to assist Australia in meeting its Paris Agreement targets. “Our proposed method is also based on enabling broader participation in the carbon market, which could include State forest management agencies and national parks managers as well as community groups, not-for-profits, private native forest landowners, and First Peoples. “Forestry Australia’s method is based on a growing body of published work that shows forests that are actively managed can have greater carbon sequestration and storage potential. “The proposal encompasses restorative forestry practices and active forest management focused on improving habitat values, carbon stocks and resilience to droughts and wildfires.”

Victorian government cuts more than 130 bushfire forest service jobs

Australian timber industry news - Fri, 01/11/2024 - 00:18
The Victorian government will cut more than 130 positions from its bushfire forest service and close six regional locations, citing budget restraints. Sources: The Guardian, Timberbiz A restructure document presented to staff on Wednesday outlined a “need to fit within a sustainable budget envelope” and to “refine our operating model”. According to the document obtained by Guardian Australia, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action’s bushfire forest services group will be cut from 1,932 positions to 1,795. Most jobs (47) will go from the forest fire operations unit, 33 will go from the conservation regulation division, 41 from infrastructure and resources and 16 from policy and planning. Staff at Lysterfield, Wangaratta, Mount Beauty, Rainbow, Shepparton and Plenty Gorge will be transferred to other locations. Staff will only be based at Tidal River, Wonthaggi and Nelson seasonally. The restructure was influenced, in part, by the transfer of the Parks Victoria fire program to the department in July 2023. Here’s how the document outlines the change: We have not reviewed our whole operation model since 2017. We need to update our operating model and adjust to changed priorities, context, technologies and ways of working. In September this year Timberbiz warned of job losses within the Bushfire and Forest Services Group stating that Premier Jacinta Allen was preparing to cut 208 staff across 99 regional sites. At that time, it was expected that staff numbers would be cut down to 1717. These cuts will make it more difficult to deal with the inevitable bushfires that Victoria faces each year, especially in the summer months.  

Opinion: Mick Harrington – Vic gov’t contributes to environmental and human destruction

Australian timber industry news - Fri, 01/11/2024 - 00:17
The Andrews-Allan-D’Ambrosio government claims to be champions of women’s rights and environmental justice. Yet, in their reckless decision to shut down Victoria’s sustainable native timber industry, they are directly contributing to a devastating and perverse outcome –accelerating environmental destruction overseas and driving vulnerable children into the arms of predators. Victoria’s native timber industry, which harvested just four in every 10,000 trees from a minuscule 4% of the public land estate, was one of the most tightly regulated and sustainable industries in the world. Yet the Victorian government chose to kneecap it, turning its back on the rural communities that depend on it, leaving Australia (and other nations that utilised our timber) to import timber from overseas where there are few protections for forests or human rights. The timber filling this gap left by the Andrews government’s disastrous policy comes from places including the Solomon Islands, where logging is neither ethical or sustainable. The devastation is plain to see, coastal areas once green forest now scarred with barren, muddy log dumps. Reports warn that, at the current pace, all forest cover in the Solomon Islands could be wiped out by 2030. But the environmental destruction isn’t the worst of it. When we outsource timber needs to countries like the Solomon Islands, the Victorian Labor government is enabling a system rife with child exploitation and human trafficking. As recently reported by the ABC, a media outlet not typically on the side of Victorian timber communities at these unregulated logging camps, young girls, some as young as 12, are coerced into relationships with foreign loggers, men who use their economic power to take advantage of vulnerable children. In these so-called “log marriages,” young girls are traded, often by their own families, in exchange for money, leaving them trapped in a life of sexual exploitation and domestic violence. And where is the Allan government, the self-proclaimed protector of women’s rights? Nowhere to be found. It is deeply hypocritical for a government that postures itself as a champion of equality, justice, and the protection of women’s rights to allow such heinous practices to flourish abroad as a consequence of its policies. What about the rights of a 13-year-old girl in the Solomon Islands to have a childhood free from predation and sexual violence? What about her right to safety, dignity, and a future untainted by exploitation? By ending Victoria’s sustainable native timber industry, the Andrews-Allan-D’Ambrosio alliance has turned its back on its own people, blue collar families in timber towns who are losing their jobs and livelihoods while simultaneously supporting some of the worst environmental and human rights abuses abroad. The green policies they claim to champion at home are feeding destruction overseas and leading children into a living nightmare. This is not about protecting the environment; it’s about moral grandstanding for Greens preferences at the expense of families, both here and abroad. The truth is, Victorian timber workers lose their jobs, forests overseas are razed to the ground, and young girls are trafficked into abusive relationships. If this is what the Andrews government calls progress, it’s a bitter price to pay—for Victoria, for the planet, and for the innocent girls who will never have the chance to live their childhood in peace. The Andrews-Allan-D’Ambrosio government must answer: how can you champion women’s rights when your policies are pushing children into the hands of predators in foreign lands? And how do you justify the end of the Victorian native timber sector when these are the true costs? Michael Harrington is a native forestry advocate and third generation firewood operator.

Pages

Subscribe to ForestIndustries.EU aggregator


by Dr. Radut