Conditions for building social capital and community well-being through plantation forestry

Falling commodity prices, dying towns, escalating suicide rates, decreasing access to services, and environmental degradation all form part of a well-known story of life in contemporary rural Australia. At face value, plantation forestry has much to offer in the search for happy endings. But it is also apparent that for many rural communities, experience of plantation forestry, to date, has not been promising. This paper is not so much concerned with evaluating successes and failures with plantation forestry so far, as it is with an analysis of the conditions under which the potential contribution of plantation forestry to social vitality may be realised. It is argued that there is a need for better understanding of the social context for the challenges facing rural Australia (in particular, the relationships between economic restructuring, community well-being and environmental sustainability). Then, opportunities can be identified for enhancing the benefits of plantation forestry and mitigating negative social outcomes including resource-use conflict. To realise these opportunities, strategies need to be developed that simultaneously regenerate social, natural and economic capital such as, for example, farm and catchment planning, localised value-adding and participatory decision-making.