Proposed approach for Australia’s State of the Forests Report – 2023 and beyond

Publication date: 09 November 2021

This ABARES Position Paper identifies drivers for change in the mechanism of forest reporting through Australia’s State of the Forests Report (SOFR), including increasing user expectations for access to current forest data, and access to information and analysis in digital, online formats. Three major options are then presented to respond to these drivers: status-quo five-yearly reporting; online-only five-yearly reporting; and online-first reporting. The latter option permits a focus on key metrics, data updates at variable frequencies, and the opportunity to highlight key advances as they occur, and would include publication of a five-yearly 'Synthesis Report'. This option is proposed as the approach for Australia’s national forest reporting for 2023 and beyond.

Publication of this Position Paper follows a process of consultation by ABARES with the Montreal Process Implementation Group of Australia (MIG), the National Forest Inventory Steering Committee (NFISC) and other stakeholders, the delivery of a webinar to the Forestry and Forest Products Committee (FFPC) in September 2021, and a presentation at the national conference of the Institute of Foresters of Australia-Australian Forest Growers (now Forestry Australia) in October 2021.

The MIG, NFISC, and FFPC each consist of representatives from state and territory governments and the Australian Government, with the MIG and NFISC reporting to FFPC. The MIG and NFISC are co-authors of Australia's State of the Forests Reports in recognition of the collaborative nature of Australia's national forest reporting.

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