In January 2011, the Rural Research and Development Council ('the Council') released a draft National Strategic Rural Research and Development Investment Plan ('the draft plan'). The Council invited public comment on this draft plan, including from the Productivity Commission, before preparing a final version for the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

To help examine the role of natural forests and woodlands in storing carbon, this report presents a landscape-wide green carbon account of the 'Great Western Woodlands.' Understanding the role of natural ecosystems in carbon storage is an important part of solving the climate change problem. For the first time, we provide an overview of the...

This report is the outcome of research project to develop indicators that identify the social and economic cost and benefits of forestry, the direct and flow-on benefits of forestry activity and the impacts of current policy settings on the forest industry.

A number of broad issues relating to the impact of taxation incentives for the establishment carbon sink forests were examined during the committee's consideration of this legislation.

Allowing tax deductions for certain expenses incurred in planting a carbon sink forest has become a controversial topic. This paper looks at the background to the tax deduction, explains why carbon sink forest are important in controlling emissions, outlines recent objections to this measure during the Senate debates over the period 24 to 26 June...