Forests Australia

The state of Australia’s forests is reported across 44 indicators that are being progressively updated.

The latest indicators to be updated and published October 2024 are:

• Indicator 1.2a Forest dwelling species for which ecological information is available
• Indicator 1.2b The status of forest dwelling species at risk of not maintaining viable breeding populations, as determined by legislation or scientific assessment
• Indicator 1.3a Forest associated species at risk from isolation and the loss of genetic variation, and conservation efforts for those species
• Indicator 1.3b Native forest and plantations of indigenous timber species which have genetic resource conservation mechanisms in place
• Indicator 2.1a Native forest available for wood production, area harvested, and growing stock of merchantable and non-merchantable tree species
• Indicator 2.1c Annual removal of wood products compared to the volume determined to be sustainable for native forests and future yields for plantations
• Indicator 2.1e The area of native forest harvested and the proportion of that effectively regenerated, and the area of plantation harvested and the proportion of that effectively re-established
• Indicator 3.1a Scale and impact of agents and processes affecting forest health and vitality
• Indicator 3.1b Area of forest burnt by planned and unplanned fire
• Indicator 4.1a Area of forest land managed primarily for protective functions
• Indicator 5.1a Contribution of forest ecosystems and forest industries to the global greenhouse gas balance
• Indicator 6.1a Value and volume of wood and wood products
• Indicator 6.1d Production and consumption and import/export of wood, wood products
• Indicator 6.2b Investment in research, development, extension and use of new and improved technologies
• Indicator 6.4a Area of forest to which Indigenous people have use and rights that protect their special values and are recognised through formal and informal management regimes
• Indicator 7.1e Capacity to conduct and apply research and development aimed at improving forest management and delivery of forest goods and services

Previously updated indicators include:

• Indicator 1.1a Area of forest by forest type and tenure published December 2023 in four parts:
  • 1.1a.i Forest area by type
  • 1.1a.ii Forest area by tenure
  • 1.1a.iii Forest area in Regional Forest Agreement regions
  • 1.1a.iv Forest area change over time
• Eight indicators published July 2024:
  • Indicator 1.1c Area of forest in protected area categories
  • Indicator 2.1b Age class and growing stock of plantations
  • Indicator 6.5a Direct and indirect employment in the forest sector
  • Indicator 6.5b Wage rates and injury rates within the forest sector
  • Indicator 6.5c Resilience of forest dependent communities to changing social and economic conditions
  • Indicator 6.5d Resilience of forest dependent Indigenous communities to changing social and economic conditions
  • Indicator 7.1a Extent to which the legal framework supports the conservation and sustainable management of forests 
  • Indicator 7.1b Extent to which the institutional framework supports the conservation and sustainable management of forests

The remaining 19 indicators will be updated and published in 2025.

The Private native forestry sector report delivers an improved understanding of Australia’s private native forest resource, through identification of areas that private land-managers have identified for commercial forestry, state agencies have deemed potentially suitable for commercial forestry and areas assessed as potential from national datasets.

The Australian wood volumes analysis was announced as a 2022 election commitment during a period of uncertainty in the forest and wood products sector. The purpose of the wood volumes analysis is to give confidence that Australians have sufficient access to forest and wood products for the construction sector, from a range of sources.

The Farm forestry sector report delivers an improved understanding of Australia’s planted farm forestry resource, through identification, compilation and validation of existing available inventory data as collected by various programs over time.

Regional forest agreements: compilation of reservation and resource availability outcomes is a compilation of data on changes in reserve areas and forest resource availability in regional forest agreement (RFA) regions. The RFAs are long-term agreements for the sustainable management and conservation of Australia's forests. Reservation and resource availability data presented include both data as at signing of the RFAs, and the most recent data.

Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate: separate reporting of Indigenous ownership, management and other special rights is an ABARES technical report that lays out a new schema to allow for separate reporting on each of the various overlapping attributes of Indigenous ownership, Indigenous management or co-management, and other special rights of Indigenous peoples and communities in regards to land and forest.

Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) are long-term Commonwealth–state agreements for the conservation and sustainable management of specific regions of Australia’s native and plantation forests. The Regional Forest Agreements and Comprehensive Regional Assessment boundaries dataset defines the areas that were supplied by states for the Regional Forest Agreements process and includes RFA regions in New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and for Queensland a Comprehensive Regional Assessment region.

Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate (2024) is a continental spatial dataset that identifies and reports separately the individual attributes of Australia’s Indigenous estate. It describes the extent of land and forest over which Indigenous peoples and communities have ownership, management or co-management, or other special rights, and was assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report.

Fires in Australia’s Forests 2016–21 (2024) is a continental spatial dataset that identifies areas of forest burnt by planned and unplanned fires between July 2016 and July 2021, assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report.

Forest-dwelling species and threatened forest ecological communities of Australia dataset (2024) is a continental dataset of forest-dwelling species and forest ecological communities as at December 2021, assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report.

Forests of Australia (2023) is a continental spatial ​dataset of forest extent, by national forest categories and types, assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report.

Tenure of Australia's forests (2023) is a continental spatial dataset of national land tenure types, assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report.