A review of the Sustainable Forest Management framework in Victoria, Australia: an innovative example of sub-national forest policy
The State of Victoria, Australia has approximately 8.3 million hectares of forest, of which 7.1 million hectares of native eucalypt forest lies in the public jurisdiction. This paper describes recent sub-national policy developments in Victoria, where the State Government has adopted
an innovative Sustainable Forest Management monitoring and reporting framework through a combination of legislative and policy processes. This has resulted in three inter-dependant policy tools designed specifically to define and demonstrate progress towards sustainable forest management in
Victoria, as follows: 1) the Sustainability Charter for Victoria's State forests; 2) Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Victoria; and 3) Victoria's State of the Forests Report. The Victorian approach combines the government's desire for overarching and strategic policy
statements with the need for structured monitoring and greater performance evaluation and transparency. We commend this approach as a successful example of government integrating international sustainable forest management principles into a subnational political and legal framework.
Keywords: Montreal Process; legislation; local management; regulation; sustainable development
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, Faculty of Land and Food Resources, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Department Sustainability and Environment, State Government of Victoria, Australia. 2: Department Sustainability and Environment, State Government of Victoria, Australia.
Publication date: 01 December 2007
- The International Forestry Review is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original research and review papers on all aspects of forest policy and science, with an emphasis on issues of transnational significance. It is published four times per year, in March, June, September and December. Theme editions are a regular feature and attract a wide audience.
The IFR is part of The Global Forest Information Service - GFIS
International Forestry Review has an Impact Factor of 1.705 - Editorial Board
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