One of FSA’s roles is to provide its members with up to date and pertinent information on all manner of issues, not only for them to be kept informed of key developments that could affect their businesses but also for them to make informed decisions thereon. FSA’s Operations Director and Manager are largely responsible for the collection, archiving and dissemination of this information. In addition to this, FSA produces various submissions, presentations and reports which deal with matters concerning the future sustainability of the Industry which are also part of the Association’s large and comprehensive database.

Key objectives

• The monitoring and analysing of proposed Government policy, legislation and regulations to ascertain the economic / financial impacts that it will have on the Industry and to draft the required submissions thereon to counter potential negative consequences.
• The carrying out of various surveys amongst Association members to gather information from them and to (a) determine their views on issues that impact the Industry and (b) for use in the production of reports, presentations and submissions.
• Ensuring that FSA members and other parties are kept up to date with pertinent information affecting the Industry and their businesses via email communication and the placing of such information on our website.
• The maintenance and updating of the extensive database that FSA has developed over many years relating to information needed by the Industry and other third parties. This not only includes relevant legislation and regulations, submissions made on various issues by FSA to numerous authorities and bodies but also statistical information on the Forestry and Forestry Industry. This latter database currently covers the 39-year period from 1980 to 2018 and is extensively used by the Industry and other parties.
• The provision of information and analytical reports to a wide range of local and international third parties (e.g. Transnet Freight Rail, Competition Commission, various SA Government Departments, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation etc.).

This function is handled internally by the FSA staff and as such there is not a formal structure such as a Committee or Working Group that guides or undertakes this work.

The overall objective of the work done by FSA in this regard is to keep FSA members, our sister Associations in the Industry and third parties, both locally and internationally abreast of key developments in the Industry through the provision of accurate, up to date information and the provision of the analysis thereon and submissions made by FSA on issues that affect the Industry.