Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRAs)
The Commonwealth, State and Territory governments laid the foundation for Australia's Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs). These agreements are 20-year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia's native forests and are consistent with the National Forest Policy Statement. The RFAs for NSW are the North East RFA, Eden RFA and Southern RFA.
A review of the RFAs has commenced. The purpose of the RFA review is to provide an assessment of progress of the agreement against the established milestones.
A key step leading to the RFAs was to undertake comprehensive regional assessments (CRAs) of the environment, heritage, social and economic uses, and values of the forests.
Nationally agreed criteria, known as the JANIS criteria, were applied to help protect forest biodiversity, old-growth forests and wilderness areas through the creation of a world-class Comprehensive Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system.
Commonwealth, State, and Territory governments identified the forest areas that needed protection, and which parts could be used for commercial timber and other purposes. The assessments also determined what the forests meant to the industries and people of each region, including Aboriginal Australians. They drew on existing material as well as a wide range of commissioned studies and technical reports.
NSW Forest agreements are state level documents that are signed by various NSW Ministers under the Forestry and National Parks Estate Act 1998. NSW Forest agreements outline various NSW agency obligations or 'milestones'. Relevant milestones in the Regional Forest Agreements may also be mirrored in the NSW forest agreements.
A western regional assessment was undertaken in the Brigalow and Nandewar regions of the State's central west. The NSW Government's decision in 2005 to conserve 350,000 hectares of woodlands in the Brigalow and Nandewar bioregions protected important conservation values in western NSW and ensured the long-term sustainability of the region's important timber, gas, minerals and apiary sectors.
Page last updated: 27 February 2011
