This Statement outlines agreed objectives and policies for the future of Australia's public and private forests. The Governments share a vision of ecologically sustainable management of Australia's forests. This vision has a number of important characteristics: 1) The unique character of the Australian forested landscape and the integrity and biological diversity of its associated environment is retained. 2) The total area of forest is increased. 3) There is a 'holistic' approach to managing forests for all their values and uses so as to optimise benefits to the community.

The overall objective of the present national cross-sectoral Forest Policy is to achieve sustainable forest management that would ensure sustainable increases in the economic, social and environmental benefits from forests and trees for the present and future generation including the poor and the vulnerable groups.

This Regulation sets forth principles and procedures of works and operations regarding private and public forests. This Regulation includes provisions on management and conservation of private and public forests, forest cadastre, forest planning, inspection, environmental impact assessment, as well as permit processes for works and operations regarding private and public forests.

Implements: Forest Law No. 6831. (1956-08-31)
Implements: Law No. 3234 on the General Directorate of Forests (OGM). (1985-10-31)

Private forests are widespread in Europe providing a range of ecosystem services of significant value to society, and there are calls for novel policies to enhance their provision and to face the challenges of environmental changes. Such policies need to acknowledge the importance of private forests, and importantly they need to be based on a deep understanding of how property rights held by private forest owners vary across Europe. We collected and analysed data on the content of property rights based on formal legal requirements existing in 31 European jurisdictions.

Managing forests sustainably for multiple objectives requires multi-faceted socio-technical knowledge. This study explores the challenges of using knowledge within social and technical knowledge systems in decision-making about and the management of privately-owned forests in Finland. We define the technical knowledge system as the collection of standardized forms of knowledge and the IT systems supporting their storage and distribution. The social knowledge system consists of people who use and generate knowledge, as well as the societal norms that regulate their actions.