The main objective of this project was to develop new approaches to integrating trees for commercial harvest within rural landscapes that deliver on-farm and wider economic, environmental and social benefits while also supporting profitable, resilient, publicly-supported high value regional industries.
The Next Generation Forest Plantation Investment Project was driven by the need for increased resources for timber processors in regional Australia and for more trees in Australian rural landscapes for environmental and social outcomes. The project has recognised that there are clear economic, social and political limits to the purchase of large areas of agricultural land for plantations.
The Project was focussed on two key regions: Colac-Otway and Gippsland and three research streams.
The study aimed to realise the following goals:
- Understand the land base and the needs and experiences of landowners, industry and the investment community
- Learn from past experiences to design more sustainable investment models
- Develop a process to design and test new models for planted forest investment
- Drive long-term change to position the sector to access new capital and land through partnerships
Additional to this whole of project FWPA Final Report a range of reports specific to each of the project outputs can also be found on the below links.
- Project number: VNC423 -1617
- Link All reports
- University of Melbourne webpage
