INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NATIONAL FSC PESTICIDE DEROGATION STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION PROCESS

As important stakeholders to Forestry Tasmania we would like to invite you to participate in the consultation process regarding the development of national pesticide derogation applications.

Forestry Tasmania is seeking to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) for its forest management.

As part of our commitment to FSC forest management standards, we are committed to ensuring all forest operations are conducted in a responsible manner.

While Forestry Tasmania and other forest managers seek to avoid use of pesticides, there are some circumstances in which there are no effective alternative management options for dealing with specific threats to forest health.

In these circumstances FSC acknowledges that the controlled use of the pesticides may be preferable to alternatives and therefore has a process in place which permits the restricted use of pesticides it considers as “Highly Hazardous” that it would otherwise prohibit certified forest managers from using.

FSC International has recently updated the list of pesticides it considers as highly hazardous, and as a consequence ten forest managers around Australia formed a national Pesticide Derogation Advisory Group and are jointly making an application to FSC International for permission (a derogation) to use certain pesticides.

This ‘National Derogation Process”, has been endorsed by FSC Australia in order to have a coordinated approach and to minimise the burden on stakeholders providing input to multiple forest managers.

In the case of Forestry Tasmania, we are only seeking permission relating to two pesticides on FSC’s Highly Hazardous list, namely:

• Fipronyl – to protect forest workers from injury caused by European wasps

• Alpha-cypermethrin – to protect eucalypt plantations from severe defoliation by insect pests

We apologise if you have received a similar correspondence from another forest manager. However, in order to engage as broadly as possible with all of our stakeholders, some overlap may occur.

We are seeking feedback from our stakeholders on these two applications. A range of consultation opportunities are available until 16 November 2015 for stakeholders to provide input including:

• An online survey on behalf of all ten forest managers that provides information regarding the applications. It is preferable that the survey is completed online, however a hardcopy can be requested from Kevin O’Grady on 03 9439 2314.

Please note the online survey is a common resource so you only need to complete it once and your comments will be considered by all of the companies who are part of the application.

• Providing comments on the derogation applications directly to the National Derogation Coordinator, Kevin O’Grady on 03 9439 2314, or at kopinnacle@gmail.com, or at PO Box 41 Eltham VIC 3095.

• Providing comments on the derogation applications directly to Forestry Tasmania via our liaison officer, Lachie Clark on 03 6235 8150 or at stakeholder@forestrytas.com.au.

• Public and/or online forums will be held with interested stakeholders if sufficient interest is identified in the online survey. Those stakeholders who indicate an interest in participating will be contacted directly.

Further detail regarding all of the applications is available from the FSC Australia website.

Stakeholders are encouraged to include comments on whether or not they support the derogation requests, as well as comments on the additional controls and programs to identify alternatives. All feedback previously provided to Forestry Tasmania on its use of alpha-cypermethrin in late 2014 will be considered as part of this national process.

Please note that this consultation is only in regard to the FSC Highly Hazardous pesticides for which a derogation is being sought, comments regarding non-FSC Highly Hazardous pesticides or broader forest operations undertaken by Forestry Tasmania should be directed to our Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator at stakeholder@forestrytas.com.au.

Stakeholder comments will be used by:

1. Forestry Tasmania to inform our pesticide use plans and derogation applications
2. The national Pesticide Derogation Advisory Group to ensure an accurate understanding of the perspectives of stakeholders and to develop controls, and
3. FSC International, in consideration of the derogation applications.

All comments are due by 16 November, 2015.

If you have any questions regarding the derogation applications please do not hesitate to contact the National Derogation Coordinator Kevin O’Grady on 03 9439 2314 or at kopinnacle@gmail.com
Regards

Dion McKenzie
Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator

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Dion McKenzie Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator