{"id":29431,"date":"2025-10-20T17:23:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=29431"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:44:59","slug":"australian-forestry-must-embrace-timber-with-nature-to-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/australian-forestry-must-embrace-timber-with-nature-to-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Forestry Must Embrace \u201cTimber With Nature\u201d to Thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 400 forestry professionals, scientists, land managers and policymakers have converged on Adelaide for Forestry Australia\u2019s four\u2011day conference to explore how \u201crestoring forests and landscapes\u201d can secure Australia\u2019s future. The conference, which runs until 23 October, marks the Institute of Foresters of Australia\u2019s 90th anniversary and coincides with 150 years of plantation forestry in Australia – a proud history that dates back to Bundaleer in South Australia\u2019s Mid North, where radiata pine was first planted in 1876.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the conference, Radha Kuppalli, board director of Greening Australia and Accounting for Nature and a member of the Australian Government\u2019s Nature Finance Council, set out five priorities for the sector and urged industry and government to adopt integrated approaches that deliver social, ecological and economic returns. She called for scaled models that combine production with restoration, stronger engagement with communities and governments to secure social licence for reforestation, and the alignment of carbon and biodiversity markets to drive net\u2011zero and nature\u2011positive outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuppalli stressed that economic frameworks must change to reflect the value of natural capital and that Australia should position itself to attract long\u2011term, sustainable investment in land use. As a result, she urged policymakers and investors to back blended\u2011finance approaches that can unlock large\u2011scale restoration alongside viable timber supply, and to support market mechanisms that reward multiple landscape benefits rather than single outputs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Attachment\"
More than 400 forestry professionals from across Australia attend the conference Welcome to Country in Adelaide today (Photo Credit: Central PR Group \/ Wood Central).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kuppalli, who has more than two decades\u2019 experience in sustainable forestry and natural capital investment, told delegates that Australia must move beyond single\u2011output forestry to approaches that deliver multiple, complementary returns such as climate mitigation, biodiversity restoration, improved water management and recognition of cultural values: \u201cThe future of forestry is not timber or nature; it is timber with nature, integrated for value, resilience and long\u2011term impact,\u201d she said, illustrating her argument with case studies that reframed trade\u2011offs as diversified portfolio opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference arrives as the world reaches the midpoint of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and aims to shift the discussion from siloed projects to landscape\u2011scale solutions that balance ecological, cultural and economic outcomes. Organisers say the program is designed to make restoration bankable for investors and landholders by bringing together technical expertise, policymakers and finance providers and to feed discussions into policy recommendations and cross\u2011sector partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note:<\/strong> Wood Central will have exclusive coverage from delegates at the conference in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 400 forestry professionals, scientists, land managers and policymakers have converged on Adelaide for Forestry Australia\u2019s four\u2011day conference to explore how \u201crestoring forests and landscapes\u201d can secure Australia\u2019s future. The conference, which runs until 23 October, marks the Institute of Foresters of Australia\u2019s 90th anniversary and coincides with 150 years of plantation forestry in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[50,87,83,45,44,31],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-29431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"category-events-and-webinar","9":"category-south-australia","10":"category-sustainability","11":"category-sustainable-forest-management","12":"category-top-stories"},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jason","display_name":"Jason Ross","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29442,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29431\/revisions\/29442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29431"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=29431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}