Regional Forest Agreement - Background to the RFA

The Regional Forest Agreements process

The Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) for the South-West Forest Region of Western Australia is part of a national blueprint for balance, certainty and sustainability in forest management.

Planning for RFAs between the Commonwealth and individual States began back in 1992, when the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments signed the National Forest Policy Statement, agreeing to work together towards a shared vision for Australia's forests.

As well as the WA RFA, the Commonwealth has signed two RFAs with Victoria for the East Gippsland and Central Highland regions, and another with Tasmania. Three more RFAs will be signed in Victoria , with others to be completed in NSW and Queensland. They are all scheduled for completion by the end of 1999.

The WA RFA

The WA RFA is a 20-year agreement between the State and Commonwealth governments on the future use and management of the forests of WA's South-West, subject to five-yearly reviews.

It meets each of the three main objectives of the RFA process:

• to protect environmental values in a world class system of national parks and other reserves, based on nationally agreed criteria;
• to encourage job creation and growth in forest-based industries, including wood products, tourism and minerals; and
• to manage all native forests in a sustainable way.

For the environment, it establishes a world class reserve system which is Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative of the forests' biodiversity, old growth, and other natural and cultural values.

The RFA process began in WA in 1996 and had three phases

• The Comprehensive Regional Assessment - to provide the information base for the RFA. It involved more than 40 scientific projects assessing the environmental, heritage, social and economic uses and values of the forests. Experts contributing to the assessment came from such fields as forest ecology, soil science, geomorphology, hydrology, archaeology, botany, zoology, geography, soil science and geology, as well as economics, social planning and regional development. The 46 project reports are publicly available.
• The Integration Phase in which all of the assessment data was merged and a Discussion Paper released for public consultation. The paper outlined four scenarios for an RFA.
• The development of a final RFA between the State and Commonwealth governments, taking into account the full range of public comments.

Consultation

Consultation with national, State and regional interest groups, regional community organisations and interested members of the general public has been integral to the RFA process, from the signing of the initial Scoping Agreement to the end of the formal public comment period.

The RFA Steering Committee which managed the process - representing the Prime Minister, the Premier and relevant Commonwealth and State portfolios - was advised by a Stakeholder Reference Group representing 60 different organisations, as well as Aboriginal interests.

The scientific assessments - particularly the extensive Social Assessment - involved widespread consultation with business and community groups, service providers and voluntary groups, to ensure that the RFA tapped into local knowledge and reflected issues of local concern.

All reports produced for the RFA have been publicly available through 25 information points in Perth and throughout the region (mainly public libraries) and on the Internet, with thousands of copies distributed directly to interested Western Australians.

The joint RFA discussion paper, "Towards a Regional Forest Agreement", released in May 1998, attracted hundreds of people to open days, and 30,000 public submissions which governments took into consideration when finalising the agreement.

A summary of submissions describing how the RFA addresses key issues raised is now publicly available on request, on the internet, and through RFA information points.