Forest conservation, wood production intensification and leakage: an Australian case

Over recent decades significant areas of Australia’s publicly-owned natural forest have been reallocated from production forest to conservation forest. During the same period, a range of policies have supported the development of plantation forests. This case study analyses whether the intended conservation outcomes of Australian forest policy have been undermined by conservation loss in other natural forests. Our analysis shows that the conservation of additional natural forests in Australia over the 18 years to 2014 has not resulted in the degree of leakage that previous studies have predicted. The analysis shows that the increasing supply of low cost plantation wood has led to substitution away from wood produced from natural forests. The experience of Australian forest policy confirms the principle of land-sparing, in which large areas of natural forest with low wood productivity can be conserved by intensifying wood production from smaller areas of highly productive plantation.