Social and economic benefits of forests




To what extent are forests delivering sustainable social, cultural and economic benefits for people, and what are the predicted trajectories?

Forests support many forest-based industries, for example nature-based tourism, forestry and apiary. Forests provide connections to Country for Aboriginal people and economic opportunities. They provide space for people to enjoy nature and help to improve physical and mental health and well-being. Like any valuable asset, such as roads and hospitals, we need reliable information to manage them properly so they can continue to deliver important services to the citizens of NSW.

Project SE1: Forest-dependent jobs

Project SE1: Forest-dependent jobs

The program engaged Synergies Economic Consulting and Verterra Ecological Engineering to develop a consistent and comparable method for estimating forest-dependent jobs in NSW across tenures. The project also included a pilot study area to test and refine the method. The method was developed with guidance from a working group including agencies and Prof. Jackie Schirmer, University of Canberra. Professor John Mangan, University of Queensland and Dr. Glenn Dale oversaw the work.

The approach

The assessment of forest-related employment is largely limited to forestry activities. The project:

  • Analysed data gaps: a comprehensive review of existing information on the estimation and reporting of employment related to NSW forests, including the identification of key data gaps.
  • Consulted stakeholders: including with the socioeconomic working group and targeted stakeholders to inform the data and information collection processes to be included in the method, focusing on areas with data gaps.
  • Developed an interim method: drafting a methodology for data collection on key activities to estimate total number of jobs, type, location, and category of forest which they depend on.
  • Piloted the interim method: to apply the proposed method to a multiple-use forest area identified in consultation with the socioeconomic working group.

The result

Synergies and Vertarra have delivered a report outlining an interim method to estimate forest-dependent jobs across tenures. The report also summarises employment metrics derived for forest-dependent activities based on the available data and a range of assumptions.

However, the process highlighted significant challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the method can be further applied with greater confidence. For example, limited access to reliable data across agencies and industry sectors made it difficult to develop reliable metrics. Commercially sensitive data also made it difficult to develop indirect employment metrics for key activities in the timber and wood product industry.

Stakeholder participation and data collection was also impacted by the 2019/20 wildfire, 2021 floods and COVID-19. For many activities, stakeholders including tourism operators advised that the data provided did not reflect ‘business as usual’ circumstances.

The report recommends a number of opportunities to improve the method and its application across tenure, agencies and industry. Funding for the program ceased in FY22 limiting opportunities to progress the method.