All Content © CRC for Forestry 2007

Communities (project 4.3)

­ On 27 June 2008 the CRC for Forestry released the results of the Tasmanian Forest Industry Survey 2005-2006. You can access the survey and supporting resources here.

Why have a Communities project?

Australia's forest industries are undergoing rapid change, as are the perceptions held about forestry by different groups. It is essential to understand the social and economic implications of ongoing change within the forest industry, as well as the impact of changes in rural and regional areas on the forest industry.

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Increasingly, many stakeholders at local, regional and national level want to be involved in and informed about forestry planning and management. Effective community engagement can be challenging, and research is needed to better understand what types of engagement are needed and what methods and approaches to community engagement are most effective for different stakeholders.

The CRC for Forestry is investing in research into the social dimensions of Australia's forest industries to ensure our forest and plantation management is socially as well as environmentally sustainable.

The four sub-projects of the Communities project are examining:

  1. The socio-economic costs and benefits of different types of commercial forestry;
  2. Community attitudes towards commercial forestry, and how these change;
  3. Feasible and effective strategies for the forest industry to engage local communities; and
  4. Participatory modelling guidelines and tools to inform stakeholder dialogue about trade-offs between production, water, biodiversity, visual amenity and other community requirements.

We will update this webpage soon with more detail on these different areas of research!

Outputs of the Communities project are:

  • Information enabling development of strategies to maximise the positive and minimise the negative impacts of commercial forestry;
  • Improved understanding of changes in community attitudes to forestry over time;
  • Practical community engagement strategies enabling effective dialogue between all stakeholders with an interest in the forest industry; and
  • Practical tools to assist informed dialogue between stakeholders.

Timeframe and research locations:

The Communities project will undertake time series research from 2006-2012. Currently, research is focussed in three regions:

  • Tasmania;
  • South west Western Australia; and
  • The Green Triangle region of south west Victoria and south east South Australia.

Research activity of the Communities project is co-ordinated by Jacki Schirmer, and research is conducted at:

Scholarship opportunities:

For an overview of scholarship opportunities with the Trees in the Landscape research programme, click here.

Contacts

Dr Jacki Schirmer
Project Leader
Communities
Tel: 02 6125 2737

Fenner School of Environment & Society, Building 48
Australian National University, ACT 0200


Documents

Technical Report 184 - Schirmer J (2008) Tasmanian forest industry survey
[pdf 1.7 Mb]


Tasmanian Forest Industry Survey presentation by Dr Jacki Schirmer
[pdf 89.2 kb]


014. Tasmanian forest industry survey media release
Media release 26 June 2008 [pdf 38.8 kb]


Forest industry survey summary report
[pdf 5.7 Mb]


Technical Report 181 - Dare et al (2008)
A best practice community engagement guide for managers and field staff in the plantation sector. This brief guide will be followed by a detailed guide later in 2008. Dare L, Schirmer J, Vanclay F (2008) A brief guide to effective community engagement in the Australian plantation sector. Technical Report 181. 12 pp. [pdf 260.0 kb]


Community Engagement in Australian Forest Management
Presentation describing the potential value of community engagement in forestry, by Lain Dare (PhD Candidate, University of Tasmania), Professor Frank Vanclay (University of Tasmania) and Dr Jacki Schirmer (Australian National University) [pdf 64.4 kb]