A Forest Clearance Authority (FCA) is one of three types of logging licence that can be granted under the Forestry Act.

An FCA is only supposed to be used to authorise the clearing of trees from a discrete area of forest, which is being converted to agriculture or other land use development. 

However, FCA licences are routinely being issued over far larger areas of forest than could ever be converted to agriculture and are being issued without the informed consent of local forest owners.

ACT NOW has published three case study reports looking at different FCA projects that reveal how this types of licence is being abused:

Where's the Beef? The Wasu Cattle Farm Project

A New Forest Grab: The Mengen Integrated Agriculture Project

Ten Years Without a Crop: The Wammy Rural Development Project