This response is part of the Ongoing Debate:Bushfires and Logging
Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change (Vic), Response to Australian Rural & Regional News, 26 September 2021
There is much debate within the scientific community regarding the relationship between bushfire and forestry but what is not debated is the overwhelming impact climate change is having on the frequency and intensity of severe weather events and resulting bushfires.
In the past 50-years there has been a 40% increase in very high fire danger days, and this is set to triple in some parts of Victoria by the end of the century according to the International Journal of Wildland Fire.
The drier conditions mean we are living with more flammable forest undergrowth and drier gullies, which combine to create faster moving, more intense fires. Fire risk is increasing in more and different places than we’ve previously recorded.
It is these conditions which will have the greatest impact on Victoria’s forests, ecosystems and threatened species.
Background
Forest Fire Management Victoria is responsible for managing bushfire risk in Victoria’s parks, forests and other public land. As public land managers FFMVic recognises the experience and skills forest based workers bring to forest and bushfire management in Victoria. While Victoria is phasing out native timber harvesting by 2030, FFMVic is developing a long term strategy to ensure the skills and experience of forest based workers continue to be used to manage bushfire risk.
