State of the Forests Report - 2003
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has completed Victoria's first ever State of the Forests Report for Victoria.
 | Victoria’s State of the Forests Report is structured according to the internationally recognised Montreal Process criteria for sustainable forest management. By using an internationally recognised and agreed process DSE will be able to ensure that Victoria’s forest management can be compared with a range of other countries (eg. Canada, Japan and the USA), states and provinces. The Report is to be produced every five years, together with Australia’s State of the Forests Report and Victoria’s State of the Environment Report. To be consistent with these reporting cycles, the data presented in this Report are current to 2003 or the most recent pre-2003 published data. The resulting ‘2003’ baseline enables Victoria to critically assess and evaluate progress towards achieving its sustainable forest management objectives well into the future. |
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 Forest Report is available from Information Victoria and regional DSE offices for $30, or can be downloaded, free of charge, as below.
| Chapter | File |
| Foreword |  Foreword (PDF - 211 Kb) |
| Executive Summary | Executive Summary (PDF - 108 Kb) |
| Contents Page | Contents (PDF - 135 Kb) |
| Chapter 1: Conservation of biological diversity 1.1 Ecosystem Diversity | Ecosystem Diversity (PDF - 3.0 Mb) |
| 1.2 Species Diversity | Species Diversity (PDF - 313 Kb) |
| 1.3 Genetic Diversity | Genetic Diversity (PDF - 402 Kb) |
| Chapter 2: Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems | Chapter 2 (PDF - 533 Kb) |
| Chapter 3: Maintenance of ecosystem health and vitality | Chapter 3 (PDF - 1.6 Mb) |
| Chapter 4: Conservation and maintainance of soil and water resources | Chapter 4 (PDF - 3.1 Mb) |
| Chapter 5: Maintainance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles | Chapter 5 (PDF - 415 Kb) |
| Chapter 6: Maintainance and enhancement of long term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of societies | Chapter 6 (PDF - 1.7 Mb) |
| Chapter 7: Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management | Chapter 7 (PDF - 1.0 Mb) |
| Glossary of Terms | Glossary (PDF - 59 Kb) |
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Additional Readings
State of the Worlds Forests 2005 - International website
Australia's State of the Forest Report 2008 - Australian Government website
Australia's State of the Environment Report 2001 - Australian Government website
Environmental Policy for Victoria's State forests - DSE website
National Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development - Australian government website.
Montreal Process Working Group - International website
For further information
If you have any questions or comments, please write to:
Sustainable Forest Management Group
Parks and Forests Division
Department of Sustainability and Environment
PO Box 500,
East Melbourne, VIC 3002,
Australia
Email: SFM.Group@dse.vic.gov.au