AUSTRALIA — Controversial agreements allowing native forests to be logged can be extended for decades without a fresh assessment of threats including climate change, the Federal Court has found. Forest defenders in NSW have lost what they hoped would be a landmark challenge against one such agreement that governs logging across four million hectares of native forest from Sydney to the Queensland border. The Federal Court dismissed arguments about its validity, meaning harvesting will continue in coastal forests that are strongholds for endangered species. The timber industry welcomed the result saying it secured hundreds of jobs in regional NSW but Premier Chris Minns warned the sector change was coming. “The forestry industry in NSW has a future,” he said but flagged his government planned to explore the expansion of private plantations and forestry-related opportunities for carbon offsets. …It’s important for our domestic economy.”