Towards resolving conflict between forestry and conservation in Western Australia

There is widespread agreement that the indigenous forests of south-western Australia are an important refuge for wildlife in an otherwise extensively cleared landscape and that sustainable use of these forests is possible. Nevertheless, principles-based theses that have been proposed for assessing sustainability of forest use are of limited value unless they include assessable criteria for application. We argue that it is important to recognise that ecological science, like other disciplines is value-laden and that a statement of values is an important part of the scientific process. Furthermore, we believe that there is presently inadequate evidence to judge whether or not the current forest use is sustainable. Several areas of empirical work are suggested to resolve the outstanding issues. ‘The value of criticism and dissenting views is that they force a clearer articulation of the questions and the range of possible answers. This is the process that will hasten the resolution of fundamental issues.’ (Rapport 1996, p. 100).