Forest and Fisheries Certification in Australia

Abstract

The ‘resourcist’ and ‘developmentalist’ orientation of Australia’s economy (Walker 1999) creates opportunities for producers to engage in regulatory capture via clientelistic and triadic policy networks. In the forest arena, triadic policy networks exist and are especially effective at the state level. While fisheries policy networks are generally less organised, conflicts over fisheries policy (as with water, agriculture and mining) are often resolved in favour of producer coalitions over the objections of environment and community groups. Environmental and community coalitions can, however, utilise Australia’s federal system to stimulate national debates over what were previously considered parochial or sectoral concerns. For example, forest issues have been at the centre of Australia’s resource wars since the 1960s, pitting powerful state-based triadic policy networks against state and national environmental and community groups. While the profile of fisheries was much lower during this period, the sector is now subject to greater external scrutiny. In this chapter we examine the development of forest and fisheries certification in Australia, commencing with the struggle over voluntary certification in the forest sector, which was deeply coloured by Australia’s unique and unforgiving forest policy context.