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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 History
Australia and New Zealand developed their forest research in parallel with developments in
India and the smaller Commonwealth countries of Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean. In New
Zealand significant research started in 1920 and a single Forest Research Institute was
established to cover all aspects of forestry, ecology and timber technology in 1946, supported
by research from universities and other government institutions. Uniquely both timber and
forest research were carried out on the same site. Research in forest economics was boosted
when agricultural exports declined after the UK joined the European Union. Research priorities
in New Zealand were initially to select (mostly exotic) trees for a viable plantation industry and
the highly efficient programmes of Pinus radiata silviculture, genetic improvement and
utilisation were the result (Roche, 1990). A comprehensive account of New Zealand forest
research to 1985 is given by Kinimonth, 1997. In Australia government-funded forest research
institutions were set up separately by the states and the federal government (Carron, 1985).
Since 1991 cooperation between industry, the universities and government agencies has been
fostered through a series of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs)1. For the last 12 years
the
Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (FWPRDC)2 has had an
increasingly-important role as a coordinator and funder of research. Established in 1980, the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)3 has supported research
of
mutual interest to Australia and partner countries. In 2004 the two largest Australasian forestry
R&D providers, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products and NZ Forest Research Institute Ltd
(Scion), pooled their resources in a joint venture, Ensis4.
1 http://www.crc.gov.au/Information/default.aspx
and http://www.crcforestry.com.au/
2 http://www.fwprdc.org.au/
3 http://www.aciar.gov.au/
4 http://www.ensisjv.com/
; Rick Ede, Chief, CSIRO Forestry and
Forest Products:
Ensis – Joining Forces for Trans-National Benefit at
http://www.iufro.org/events/congresses/2005/
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