In the past 20 years, a proliferation of governance instruments has been developed by both state and non-state actors. Today, many industrial sectors are governed by a variety of overlapping instruments that are usually analysed separately rather than as a collective. In this paper, we make the case for analysing such codes as a collective, given that is how they are experienced from the perspective of users and how, ultimately, they achieve their governance objectives. Drawing on an exhaustive database of all related governance instruments, we present an overview of the Tasmanian forestry code complex with regard to harvesting-related forest operations, highlighting how public and private instruments relate to each other and intersect. Three key findings from the study are (a) the critical importance of Tasmania's Forest Practices Code as a master code, which sits at the centre of the State's Forest Code Complex with regard to harvesting; (b) the role that company management plans play in mediating between Tasmanian and international codes such as those endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification and the Forest Stewardship Council; and (c) the utility of the code complex concept for comparative analyses of resource management.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	code complex, forestry, Tasmania, governance, standards, harvesting
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Policy and Administration
Research Field:	Environment Policy
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Measurement Standards and Calibration Services
Objective Field:	Agricultural and Environmental Standards
UTAS Author:	Gale, F (Professor Fred Gale)
UTAS Author:	Baker, T (Mr Thomas Baker)
ID Code:	116743
Year Published:	2017
Deposited By:	Office of the School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2017-05-18
Last Modified:	2018-03-27
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