State of the Forests Report - 2008
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has completed the 2008 State of the Forests Report for Victoria.
 | Criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management are designed to reflect the ecological, economic and social components of sustainable forest management, and provide a framework from which to evaluate progress towards management objectives. The Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Victoria was adopted in 2006 and is closely aligned with those of Australia’s national framework and the Montréal Process. This provides a means for the Victorian Government to monitor and report on progress towards the objectives set out in the Sustainability Charter for Victoria’s State forests. Victoria’s State of the Forests Report 2008 reports on the state of the forest at 30 June 2006 and on trends for the period 2001-02 to 2005-06. While this is the second State of the Forests report, it is the first structured around the Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Victoria. The report summarises progress towards each of the seven criteria, based on information collected for the indicators over the reporting period. The release of Victoria’s State of the Forests Report meets a commitment, under the Victorian government's Our Forests, Our Future policy statement on forests, to improve openness, accountability and community engagement in forest management. Victoria’s State of the Forests Report provides a benchmark from which future reports can be measured.  Victoria's State of the Forests Report 2008 (PDF - 3.0 MB) |
Detailed information by criterion is available to download below. A hard-copy of the report can be obtained from Information Victoria.
| Chapter | File |
| Criterion 1: Conservation of biological diversity | Criterion 1 (PDF - 3.0 MB) |
| Criterion 2: Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems | Criterion 2 (PDF - 1.9 MB) |
| Criterion 3: Maintenance of ecosystem health and vitality | Criterion 3 (PDF - 1.5 MB) |
| Criterion 4: Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources | Criterion 4 (PDF - 1.2 MB) |
| Criterion 5: Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles | Criterion 5 (PDF - 942 KB) |
| Criterion 6: Maintenance and enhancement of long term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of societies | Criterion 6 (PDF - 2.8 MB) |
| Criterion 7: Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management | Criterion 7 (PDF - 1.7 MB) |
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Please note: Some of the files are large and may take some time to download.
Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.
Related links
- Victoria's State of the Forests Report 2003
- State of the Worlds Forests 2007 - International website.
- Australia's State of the Forests Report 2003 - Australian Government website.
- Australia's State of the Environment Report 2006 - Australian Government website.
- Australia's State of the Environment Report 2001 - Australian Government website.
- Victoria's State of the Environment Report 2008 - Victorian Government website.
- Environmental Policy for Victoria's State forests - DSE website.
- National Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development - Australian Government website.
- Montréal Process Working Group - International website.
- Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Victoria - DSE website.
Errata
Please note corrections have been made to Victoria’s State of the Forests Report 2008 and Criterion 1, to use the definition of old-growth forest that is consistent with Woodgate et al. (1995). The errata do not affect the estimated areas reported for old-growth forest.
Victoria’s State of the Forests Report 2008 (page 10)
Amended: Old-growth is not a distinct growth stage, it is a term for forest which contains significant amounts of its oldest growth stage - usually senescent trees - in the upper stratum and has been subjected to any disturbance, the effect of which is now negligible.
Criterion 1 (page 11)
Amended: Old-growth – Old-growth is not a distinct growth stage. Old-growth is defined as forest which contains significant amounts of its oldest growth stage - usually senescent trees - in the upper stratum and has been subjected to any disturbance, the effect of which is now negligible. The assessment of old-growth therefore requires knowledge of growth stage and disturbance history. Old-growth area is modelled using information collected from remote sensing and forest surveys.