Mr. Masters inquires about a report on ecosystem services by Carol Holmes, specifically regarding payments to landowners. The Minister confirms receipt, highlights its limitations, and tables the document.

AnsweredQoN 2824Legislative Assembly
Asked
4 May 2004
Portfolio
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

QuestionView source ↗

(1) Has the Minister commissioned and/or received a paper or report on ‘ecosystem services’, reportedly written by Ms Carol Holmes?
(2) If yes, is this document available for public examination?
(3) If yes, what are the main conclusions and recommendations in the document concerning the potential for farmers and other land owners to be paid for the provision of ecosystem services from their land?
(4) If the document has not yet been presented to the Minister, when will this occur?
(5) Will the Minister table a copy of this document?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
3 June 2004
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Response time
30 days
(2) Yes. However, and without taking away from the excellent work that Ms Holmes has done, the paper has not been formally reviewed by agencies or peers. Ms Holmes herself stresses in the paper that it only provides a ball park figure for the value of non-commercial benefits of farm forestry, in particular Maritime Pine in Western Australia. (3) The main conclusion from the paper is that the methods used for each case study cannot be uniformly applied to new investment as each situation is different and environmental and social aspects vary between regions. The paper reiterates that benefits of tree farming are localised, small scale and individualised. It would not be until a major processing centre is established that large scale regional economic and social effects are realised. Notwithstanding that, Ms Holmes' analysis revealed that up to an additional $200.63 per hectare should be assigned to account for the social and environmental benefits of a mature stand of Maritime Pine in medium rainfall areas as an accumulation of benefits of 30 years. Simply put this provides an annual extra average benefit of $6.67 per hectare. (4) Not applicable. (5) I attach the paper.
(3) The main conclusion from the paper is that the methods used for each case study cannot be uniformly applied to new investment as each situation is different and environmental and social aspects vary between regions. The paper reiterates that benefits of tree farming are localised, small scale and individualised. It would not be until a major processing centre is established that large scale regional economic and social effects are realised. Notwithstanding that, Ms Holmes' analysis revealed that up to an additional $200.63 per hectare should be assigned to account for the social and environmental benefits of a mature stand of Maritime Pine in medium rainfall areas as an accumulation of benefits of 30 years. Simply put this provides an annual extra average benefit of $6.67 per hectare. (4) Not applicable. (5) I attach the paper.
(4) Not applicable. (5) I attach the paper.
(5) I attach the paper.

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