Source: NSW CRA/RFA Steering Commitee

Eden Forest Forum Sets The Ground Rules

5 May 1997

The first Eden Regional Forest Forum meeting on Saturday saw the ground rules set for local participation in the Eden comprehensive regional assessments (CRAs) for the area’s Regional Forest Agreement.

More than twenty members of the newly formed forum met in Merimbula for a day of discussions and briefings from the State and Commonwealth Governments.

Consisting of representatives from regional groups with a stake in the future of the south east forests, the forum will act as a communication channel between the community and the State/Commonwealth Steering Committee for the CRAs.

The assessments, run by the Resource and Conservation Assessment Council (RACAC) in NSW and the Commonwealth Forests Taskforce, will provide the basis for the first of four Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) between the NSW and Commonwealth Governments. Regional Forest Forums are also being established in other RFA regions of the State.

The chairman of the forum, Kerry Pfeiffer, said its role was to seek local and regional solutions to the formal requirements of the CRAs, and to advise the governments’ Steering Committee on those solutions.

"If this is going to happen then we must strive for consensus," Mr Pfeiffer said.

"We need to agree from the outset that members of the forum are working together towards a common goal - lasting environmental and economic solutions for the region."

RACAC Director, Rex Bowen, and NSW project leader for the Forests Taskforce, Richard Webb, emphasised the forum’s critical role in the forest assessments.

"This is the first time a forum of this type - in which the community advises Government - has been established to deal with forest issues," Mr Bowen said.

"The success of the forum lies in the enthusiasm of participants, and the turnout from so many groups on Saturday was a clear sign of the community’s commitment to lasting solutions for the region’s forests."

Mr Webb said that the forest assessments are the most systematic and comprehensive ever undertaken. "Ranging from systematic and targeted flora and fauna surveys to cultural and natural heritage assessments and specialised social and economic studies, they will provide a solid basis for the Eden RFA," he said.

The next meeting of the Eden Regional Forest Forum will be on May 22.

Contacts: Kerry Pfeiffer (064) 932 277 or 0412 034 540

Gillian Higginson (RACAC) 02 9228 3991

Ruth Dewsbury (Cwlth) 06 274 1904

[ Overview | Western Regional Assessment | Forest Agreements | Newsletters |

| Sitemap | Home ]

© NSW Government & important legal notices
Site queries to Webmaster

Resource and Conservation Assessment Council (RACAC)
June 1995 - Dec 2003

RACAC presided over the NSW Forest Agreements program
from June 1995 to December 2003.

For continuity this site remains under the name RACAC.
However, project management and monitoring of the
NSW Forest Agreements are now provided by the Resource
and Conservation Unit of the NSW Department of Environment
and Climate Change.