The new awareness of the concept of sustainable development sets the background for this report. This notion of everyone taking responsibility for their actions in a holistic context is significant. It requires individuals and industry alike to account for their impacts on the environment. Problems exists in measuring environment variable however, and sustainable development is far from quantifiable. Means to allow environmentally consistent scientific and systematic choices are required.
Report Year Archives: 1997
An Overview Of Recent Nutrition Research For The Rapidly Expanding Eucalyptus Plantation Industry In Australia
The rapid expansion of eucalypt plantations in Australia, now in excess of 50,000 hectares of new plantations annually, is mainly on private land, with areas ranging in size from farm windbreaks and small wood lots to broad-scale plantings. Due to the fragmented nature of plantings, the wide range of planting sites and the proliferation of plantation management companies, there is an emerging need for collaborative research to maintain and improve plantation productivity through nutrient management. With the addition of nitrogen and phosphorus at establishment, the ten-year productivity of Eucalyptus globulus can be increased by between 30% and 100%, depending on site characteristics.
Shortage of logs – Continuing pressure from the conversation movement to reduce the amount of forest resource available to the forest products industry. A limitation on the amount of sustainable land available for plantation in the future.
Southern Africa has a history of establishing eucalypt plantations predominantly for pulp and paper but also for sawn timber production. The climate in Southern Africa favours the growth of sub tropical eucalypt species such as Eucalyputus grandis which appreciate the warm climate and summer rainfall achieved in the wetter areas of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Both private and government forestry organisation have had a focus on genetically improving eucalypt plantations, both for volume growth and wood properties, and also for drought tolerance and disease resistance.
To the field forester, the mantra “Sustainable Forest Management” has become an interminable international chanting of conferences, papers, reports, web-sites, books, seminars, symposiums, summits, programmes, study units, fellowship etc. etc. etc. So much is being written and discussed about policy, planning, alternative systems and approaches that it merges into an incomprehensible blur.