Software Helps Australia Manage Forest Debate

ECOLOGYMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA-- A computer program to promote biodiversity is giving loggers and conservationists a chance to end their fierce fighting over forest reserves. The software, called C-Plan, puts a biodiversity value on each parcel of land and presents stakeholders with various packages that meet the conservation target. So far it has been used in two major sets of negotiations; a third exercise, involving a large swath of old-growth forest, has just begun.