B. Slee, Resolving production-environment conflicts: the case of the Regional Forest Agreement Process in Australia, FOR POLICY, 3(1-2), 2001, pp. 17-30
This paper evaluates the development of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) a
s a means of reducing timber production-environment conflicts in Australia,
with particular reference to the development of the Regional Forest Agreem
ent in Northeast Victoria. Regional Forest Agreements are formal legal agre
ements between federal and state governments. The processes associated with
their production have a number of innovative features from a social perspe
ctive, but the economic analysis associated with their production fails to
put any value on the non-market values associated with native forests. The
processes involved in the production of Regional Forest Agreements may resu
lt in economic benefit through local capacity building and conflict resolut
ion amongst different stakeholders. However, there may be a gap between the
intention and the outcome, in that RFAs have in some cases polarised and e
xacerbated conflicts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.