RFA goes up in smoke
The Regional Forest Agreement promised the MAXIMUM amount of logs that could be taken from public forest, while providing the MINIMUM area to meet conservation criteria. No allowance was made for fire. There was no margin of error for events outside the control of governments. If fires destroy even part of the reserve system or “available” forest, the whole RFA breaks down.
These roughly slapped together documents were signed off for each region. The promise of “certainty” for everyone – especially the logging industry never happened. The 500 extra jobs for East Gippsland also never happened, the trees just weren’t there, the markets have been favouring plantation wood and now the fires have upset their volumes yet again.
No matter who writes or signs a piece of paper, it can’t provide “certainty” in that real world beyond a politician’s desk. Just as their 20-year licenses don’t produce trees that were never there.