Techera, Erika J --- "The Forest Wars" [2007] MqJlICEnvLaw 9; (2007) 4(2) Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law 91

• THE FOREST WARS

BOOK REVIEW

THE FOREST WARS

JUDITH AJANI

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2007: 362 PAGES

This book analyses Australia’s four decade long forest conflict in a way which is both detailed and eminently readable. It traces the political history of the plantation industry in Australia, from Menzies’ decision to escalate softwood planting, as well as the subsequent hardwood planting program, to the later investment in softwood plantation sawmills and wood panels plant. The analysis continues through the Hawke and Keating years, the end of native forest logging in Western Australia and Queensland, the 2007 election campaign and the tension surrounding the continued logging of native forests.

The book is divided into four chronological parts. The first part commences in the 1920s and traces the establishment and development of key Australian institutions affecting the forestry industry. The origin of the softwood plantation program is set out in detail together with an analysis of the Federal and State political agenda. In the second part the author addresses the industry’s early enemies in the form of land-clearing farmers, the later rise in the environmental movement and the fight for the forests by environmentalists seeking to stop the woodchipping of native trees. The third part begins in the 1990s with the growing forest conflict and the ensuing forest inquiries. The debate surrounding the listing of key forests as World Heritage areas and the first Regional Forest Agreements is also addressed. The fourth part starts by covering the hardwood plantation program and the woodchipping controversy. The book concludes with a call for a new forest policy incorporating two key strategies for the future: Shifting commodity wood production out of native forests and into plantations and increasing the processing of plantation timber within Australia. This would allow the native forests to be managed fully for ecological services.

Despite recent pessimism about the possibility of any resolution of the forest conflict, Ajani contends that Australia can protect native forests and maintain a large plantation-based forestry industry. She indicates that plantation timber can meet virtually all Australia’s wood needs for paper and timber without the need to log native forests or import timber. This is largely due to a slower rate of growth in the consumption of plantation timber than originally predicted. She maintains therefore that plantation timber could be substituted for all the native timber currently logged for woodchips. If logging of native forests ceased then they could be managed for ecological services such as carbon sinks, water catchments and wildlife habitats. She argues that Australia is therefore in the fortunate position of having the potential to benefit fully from the value of its native forests.

Judith Ajani is based at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She has been involved in forest industry research and policy for several decades having worked for the State Government in Victoria and later as a consultant to environmentalists. The book was written whilst she was a post doctoral fellow at ANU. It is not a legal text but rather an analysis of the politics of Australia’s forest industry which is in part historical but also offers future approaches to resolve the current conflict. It must be read in the wider context of the global environmental movement and also Australian Federal/State politics. However, it would appeal to both Australians who are interested in understanding the present state of play in relation to the forest industry, and an international readership as Ajani presents an interesting strategic approach to achieving industry development and protecting the environment.

Erika J Techera

Associate Lecturer

Centre for Environmental Law

Division of Law, Macquarie University