Institute of Foresters of Australia
National Conference
IFA 2009
"Forestry: A Climate of Change"
7th September, 2009
National President, Institute of Foresters of Australia (IFA), Dr Peter Volker,
Executive Director of the IFA, Mr Adrian O'Loughlin,
Chairman of the IFA Organising Committee, Mr Stephen Walker,
Distinguished Fellows of the Institute,
IFA Members, delegates and guests, including from overseas,
In the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge that this Conference is taking place on the traditional lands of the Undumbi people of the Gubbi Gubbi language group.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to Queensland and to join you here in beautiful Caloundra for the opening of this important National Conference of the Institute of Foresters of Australia.
Caloundra is certainly an attractive setting for any conference, with its idyllic position at the northern end of the Pumicestone Passage, opening to the Pacific, with its mix of both sheltered and open beaches, and its views to the Glasshouse Mountains. Its history also makes it particularly appropriate for a Conference devoted to forestry. The Caloundra area has a long history of habitation by indigenous people from the Undumbi; and the name "Caloundra" is most commonly held to derive from the word "Callanda" which means beautiful place in the Gubbi Gubbi language. However, there is some speculation that it may be derived from the word "Cullowundoor" meaning "beech tree" - because of the trees that grow on the headland of Caloundra Head.
The region was opened up for European settlement from the 1860's, and the timber-getters seeking giant red cedar trees became early pioneers of the hinterland and railway corridor districts. Caloundra anchors the southern end of the Sunshine Coast, which is home to one of Australia's largest and diverse forestry regions - as I hope many of you will experience yourselves, with field trips scheduled to the Hoop Pine plantations in the Mary Valley, the Coastal Wallum and hinterland, Gympie Messamate and the Gympie and Noosa hinterland region. So physically, culturally and historically, Caloundra is a welcoming venue for the IFA's 2009 Conference.
As Governor, as Head of the State, I naturally have an interest in all our major industries, and forestry, as one of our State's earliest and longstanding industries, with timber processing employing more than 20,000 Queenslanders, is obviously an area in which I take a particular interest. It is not a new area of interest for me, either personally or professionally. My paternal grandfather was a timber pioneer on the Atherton Tableland - establishing, then managing the first timber mills at Tolga, then Yungaburra; in my former life and career as a diplomat, I had a good deal to do with forestry issues and policy - principally during the years I served as Australia's Ambassador for the Environment in the 1990's, involved heavily with the negotiation of the UN Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate Change, Agenda 21 and the Declaration on Forests; but also in other positions - presenting and defending Australian forestry policies and practices in international forums, and supporting Australian Ministers, delegations and experts attending various international meetings and holding bilateral discussions with various countries and organisations - sometimes quite difficult discussions, on logging, wood chipping and, most recently - in France and Brussels on certification systems. So I feel I have more than a passing knowledge of the issues that concern you and that you will be discussing over the next days.
In Australia over the course of the last two decades, forestry has been at the centre of many of our most contentious debates about the environment; and internationally, forestry has been equally contentious, intersecting as it does with issues of development, sustainability and ownership. It was a measure of just how contentious and difficult the issues associated with forestry management are that in the 1990's, the international community could not agree even to negotiate a legally-binding Convention - and that forestry issues were dealt with only in a special chapter in Agenda 21 and the Declaration - and there was a real sense of unfinished business. It was too fraught - too complex. Politically, then, forestry and foresters have been in many ways dealing with a "a climate of change" for a considerable time: and now, with forestry linked so intricately to climate change, this reality can only increase as the debate about both international and domestic policy responses to climate change intensifies.
Climate change, we all know, is a great global and national challenge - and certainly a critical issue for Queensland. According to the Timber Queensland website, with a total forest estate of around 56 million hectares, Queensland has the largest forested area in Australia. Products produced from Queensland forests store approximately one million tonnes of CO2 annually - so we are a key stakeholder in the policy debates around the role that forestry will play as we move - inexorably - to a lower carbon economy.
Looking beyond the forestry industry, Queensland is highly exposed to the impacts of climate change: not only because of our vast land area and long coastline, but because our population is largely centred on coastal areas. Primary industry and tourism are profoundly important in the State's economy and we are the custodians of two particularly vulnerable world heritage sites - the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics.
As someone who has a long history in dealing with the charged politics and the policy debate around climate change - which, while it often seems to be swiftly moving, yet just as often to be swiftly doubling back on itself - (sometimes it feels as if we are that film, "Groundhog Day"!) - I have long argued that one of the essential keys to achieving progress and actually moving the debate forward in a sensible, measured way (rather than those sudden lurches and surges that occur because of political pressures and events) is science. Good policy needs a solid scientific base and the input of experts - without this input, whether it be from the IPCC, the coral reef scientists, the marine biologists or the foresters, it is difficult to conceive of the decision-makers, at either the international or national level, being able to design - let alone agree - on workable mitigation and adaptation strategies. For this reason, I am pleased to see science placed front and centre in the program, with the keynote addresses at this opening session by Professor Roger Stone and Professor John Innes and Penny Baalman promising a fascinating morning. My only regret is that the need to attend several other commitments later today in Brisbane only enable me to stay to hear the first of these.
Another key focus of the Conference - and of your discussions - quite understandably - is on the costs of climate change - of the impacts and of the responses to reducing carbon emissions. Wherever such discussions occur, we need also to consider the opportunities.
From the very earliest days of negotiating the framework convention on climate change, there was talk of ‘winners' and ‘losers' ... its not an expression I like - we will all be losers if we don't act more quickly and decisively and more importantly, if we don't get the policies right. Nevertheless, as we struggle with determining the best and most appropriate measures to address and adapt to climate change, we do need to be thinking also about the opportunities that will emerge as regions, states and countries effect the transition to a lower carbon economy. These will be significant, and - as with most things - "first in, best dressed" - it seems likely that the greatest benefits will accrue to those who are ready to move swiftly. This has been recognised in the Queensland Government's recently released "Climate Q: Towards a Greener Queensland." For those who haven't yet read it - I suggest you have a look at it - and at the new CATER plan (Carbon Accumulation through Ecosystem Recovery) which focuses among other things on the accumulation of improved data and provision of up to date information on the carbon storage potential and growth rates of native regrowth vegetation.
People will continue, no doubt, both to resist and to argue the merits of such plans and policies. For me, one of its attractions is the focus on getting and providing better information - helping to get that sound basis for decision-making that I talked about earlier - although here the information is as much for the landholders and managers, as for the political decision-makers.
Implicitly underpinning this policy is the understanding that if landholders and resource managers have the information they need about emerging opportunities, then they will be better placed to take advantage of these - and to develop new policies and innovative approaches, that will position them - and the forestry industry generally - more effectively to compete in the changing global marketplace. For this reason, I was happy to see that Session 2 was couched in the terminology of "opportunities", looking in detail at climate change mitigation opportunities for forestry and forest based industries.
I alluded earlier to the political crucible in which current forestry policy and practice has evolved. While I am sure some present at this Conference bear the scars of those debates, one "positive externality" of this intensity has been the rigor it has brought to forestry in this country, with the result that Australian forestry practice, forestry management and our forestry industries have become among the best - most rigorous and scientifically based - in the world. This will help us to protect and defend our national interests better, as it will to promote our timber products. It also means that Australian forestry is uniquely placed to make a positive contribution to helping developing countries move to more sustainable industries, something that I understand will be addressed in Session 6, during the discussion on "Reshaping the Forestry Agenda". Australia has had a longstanding commitment to including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) in a post 2012 outcome on climate change. While this debate about the inclusion of REDD in the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is still playing out internationally, given that approximately 17% of greenhouse gas emissions originate from deforestation and forest degradation, it is clear to me that effective mitigation of climate change will not be achieved without a rigorous and robust mechanism for the inclusion of forests. The Institute of Foresters of Australia have a great deal of expertise to contribute to this debate in the lead up to Copenhagen and beyond - and there will be considerable scope to continue to assist developing countries, particularly in our region, to improve their forestry practices.
I attend and open many conferences on a highly diverse range of subjects. The program set for this 2009 National Conference appears to me to be a particularly ambitious and challenging one, which also promises to be exceptionally interesting. It reflects the dynamic nature of the Institute and its members and your readiness to work actively to influence the policy debate and help find the solutions to these complex and difficult issues. There is an impressive array of experts present, but I'm also very pleased to see a good number of educators and students here. These issues are going to be with us for a long time and we need that next generation, the future leaders of forestry to have the highest possible levels of knowledge and understanding of the challenges surrounding sustainability and climate change and to be well-equipped to handle and respond to what your President has described as the "broad and complex spectrum of challenges facing the forestry profession and forest-based industries."
I wish everyone present a stimulating and satisfying conference and it is now my pleasure to declare open formally the 2009 National Conference of the Institute of Foresters of Australia. In so doing, I wish you all success and stamina in navigating the climate of change and pursuing the Institute's fundamental objective, of advancing and protecting the forestry profession and the cause of forestry in Australia in beyond.