Towards the sustainable management of southern temperate forest ecosystems: lessons from Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

The temperate forest ecosystems of Australia and New Zealand have had a similar history of exploitation and destruction since European settlement. This differed markedly from the previous use of these forests by indigenous peoples. Australian Aborigines are considered to have used the forests on a sustainable basis. Fire was the primary management tool and probably had its greatest effect on floristic composition and structure. The Maori of New Zealand initially cleared substantial areas of forest, but by the time of European settlement they appear to have been approaching sustainable management of the remainder. In both countries, the arrival of Europeans disrupted sustainability and significantly changed the evolutionary history of the forests and their biota. The exploitation and destruction of temperate forests by Europeans in both countries has been driven largely by agricultural and forestry activities, based around settlement and export industries. The Australian continent never had substantial forest cover but this has been reduced by more than half in just 200 years. New Zealand has suffered a similar overall level of further loss; although in the lowlands this can reach 95 per cent. In recent times, forest production and management policies in the two countries have diverged. In both countries the majority of remaining indigenous forests are on publicly-owned land. Australia still maintains indigenous forest production as an industry exploiting old growth forests, the management being split between an emphasis on production forestry and nature conservation. New Zealand has largely abandoned indigenous forestry on public lands, the management being vested in a single conservation department. In New Zealand the production emphasis has mostly moved to sustainable plantation forestry, whereas in Australia, despite recommendations to halt or markedly reduce old growth forest logging, the transition to primary dependence on plantation production has yet to occur.