About Forestry

Australia has a total forested area of around 150 million hectares - covering around 21% of the continent. This is made up of around 147.4 million hectares of native forest and around 1.903 million hectares of plantation forests.

Australia's sustainable, renewable commercial forests are managed in line with the world's highest environmental standards.

Key forest values including biodiversity, cultural heritage and recreation are all included in the fundamental management objectives of Australia's sustainable forest industry.

The industry's future depends on maintaining its world class standards of sustainable forest management and stewardship.

Less than 0.1% of Australia's forests are harvested each year. All harvested areas are regenerated and regrown in line with the strict regulatory frameworks. Combined with the expansion of Australia's plantation resources, this means the forest areas in Australia are actually increasing in size.

Australia's sustainable forest industry directly employees more than 76,000 people, and generates nearly $2.5 billion of exports each year.

Click here for the Forest Industry Statistics factsheet.