The Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) are 20 year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia's native forests, and are intended to provide certainty to commercial forestry operations while protecting environmental values.
The Agreements relies on a mix of community and industry consultation combined with scientific research.
While the Agreements are supported by forestry industry, they are widely criticized by environmentalist groups.
In Tasmania, a forestry operation that is undertaken in accordance with an RFA is not required obtain environmental approvals otherwise required by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, nor to protect rare or threatened species listed in the CAR Reserve System.
That is, the threatened species have simply been declared to be protected without regard for actual circumstances.