Abstract
Australia’s forest industry faces significant challenges to ensure it is prepared to meet existing, emerging and new forest health and biosecurity threats in a changing world. Increasing volumes and diversification of trade and travel are escalating the risk of exotic pests establishing in Australia, and climate change is predicted to affect host susceptibility to pests and pathogens and increase the frequency and intensity of droughts and fires, which can cause significant forest losses. Yet, as these risks are increasing, Australia’s technical capacity in forest health and biosecurity is declining. Together, this substantially weakens our ability to identify and respond to biosecurity threats, solve emerging forest health issues and manage ongoing pest risks – all crucial for sustainable forest productivity and market access. The papers presented in this themed edition of Australian Forestry address key issues relating to these broad topics.
