Intensive palm oil production is also creating all kinds of environmental fall-out, including air, soil and water pollution, and soil erosion. Everything you need to know about the deforestation crisis taking place across Australia. Beef farming in Australia is driving significant deforestation, including in the habitats of threatened species, according to a new satellite analysis. Want more science plus health, environment, tech and more? If we convert Tasmania's 66,500 cleared hectares to a 1-kilometre-wide strip of land, it would be 665-kilometres long or the distance from Melbourne to Canberra. We recognise First Nations as the custodians of land and water across Australia and pay our respects to Elders past and present. Calling on big business to source and sell products free from deforestation. Because this data comes from the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) estimates of clearing (called primary conversion and reclearing) it includes both native forestry and plantation forestry figures. Where is the worst deforestation happening in Australia? Historically, deforestation was considered best practice. Deforestationthe reduction or complete removal of native forest and bushlandhas escalated over the recent years to reach globally significant levels. Deforestation also reduces rainfall in Australia, according to Clive McAlpine from the University of Queensland. In total that roughly equals a 1-kilometre-wide piece of land 2,884 kilometres long or from Darwin to Adelaide with change. The primary issue I have found is that deforestation leads to mass habitat and food loss for koalas. This continued destruction is devastating for the environment and wildlife. Australia remains one of the worlds hotspots for deforestation according to a new report by WWF, which finds an area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. Your feedback has been submitted. On 12 September 2017, Australian, state and territory forestry ministers issued a joint ministerial statement of support for the forestry industry. Whats a tree worth? , Only 50% of Australia's forests and bushlands remain intact compared to pre-European arrival. This map shows the distribution of the Casuarina native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. 'Commercial plantations' are plantations grown on a commercial scale for wood production, while 'Other forest' includes small areas of mostly non-industrial plantations and planted forests of various types including sandalwood plantations, small farm forestry and agroforestry plantations, plantations within the reserve system, and plantations regarded as non-commercial. Advocating for new laws that support the life our lives depend on. Deforestation in Australia has now reached globally significant levels, driven largely by land clearing in Queensland. Despite a range of reports recommending the urgent protection of unburnt patches to limit species decline, the NSW government continues to allow industrial logging at a rate of around 14,000 hectares per yeareven in extreme risk areas! The southwest of Western Australia has been experiencing a long-term climate shift since the 1970s, which researchers have attributed to historical deforestation resulting in decreased rainfall. The countries with high rates of deforestation include Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar and Borneo. Forest policy in Australia is developed and implemented at the national, state and territory levels. First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we The categories are: Indigenous owned and managed; Indigenous managed; Indigenous co-managed; having Other special rights (Note: Indigenous is used here to refer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people): PNG [0.8 MB], PDF [2.3 MB]. Additional references: State of the Environment report 2021, We recognise First Nations as the custodians of land and water across Australia and pay our respects to Elders past and present. This map shows the extent and distribution of Australia's forests by forest type: PNG [1.1 MB], PDF [3.6 MB]. View an interactive version of this map in ArcGIS Online map viewer here. Thanks! Australia has one of the highest rates of land clearing in the world. When comparing the data for land clearing in Queensland from the SLATs method and the NGA method, there are vast discrepancies between the two discrepancies which cast further doubt on the idea that Australia's tree budget is "in the black". Rounding out the bottom of the top, as it were, are Ecuador, Liberia, and Haiti, all of which have witnessed 22% declines in forest cover since 1990. But the Liberal state government came to power in 2014 on a promise to revive the Tasmanian forestry industry, and soon after their election, reclassified around 400,000 hectares of forest designated as "future reserve land" to "future potential production forest". New drone footage has exposed shocking clearing of likely koala habitat in Far North Queensland, as our latest report, Whats at steak?, reveals more than one million hectares of forest was cleared for beef from 2014-2019. However, the report says Forest fires are likely to increase due to longer and more extreme dry seasons as a result of climate change. In 2015, WWF's Saving Forests at Risk analysis identified 11 global deforestation fronts including eastern Australia. Australia's native forests occur in a broad range of geographic landscapes and climatic environments, and contain a wide array of mostly endemic species (that is, species found nowhere else) combining to form unique and complex ecosystems. In the climate crisis, theres economic opportunity for landholders. The inaccuracies and lack of context in this article as originally published unduly focused on the role of native forestry in land-clearing. It will take more than a century for central banks and other financial institutions to reach gender balance in leadership, according to the Gender Balance Index 2023. Thanks! Such claims are based on classifying young regrowth, often only knee-high, from previous clearing, as forest. Some forests on private land are publicly managed as conservation reserves. Here, there is a direct relationship between the growth of oil palm estates and deforestation. Without a liveable climate, the vulnerable ecosystems that sustain us, wont. Acacia).. Australian's have a huge appetite for shopping. Forests extend across Australia's northern tropical regions, and down the east coast through sub-tropical regions to temperate cool-season wet and coldwet zones in the south-east; they are also found in Mediterranean climate zones in the south-east and south-west. In WWF's new report Deforestation fronts: Drivers and responses in a changing world, published today, the deforestation . Only when an area drops below that 20 per cent threshold is it registered as forest loss. We can even reverse our emissions in the process. Australia remains one of the world's hotspots for deforestation according to a new report by WWF, which finds an area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. Forests are generally confined to regions where average rainfall exceeds 500 millimetres per year. The report warns that nearly half of the standing forests in the 24 deforestation fronts have suffered some type of fragmentation and trends suggest clearing will persist unless countries act to protect them. WWF report finds area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. This map shows the distribution of the Callitris native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. State of the forests Logging is considered a threat to species such as the critically endangered Leadbeater's possum and vulnerable greater glider. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care. The classes can be grouped on the basis of ownership as public or private, with a small area of unresolved tenure. Read the, Weighing ESG risks of nickel as a critical mineral: ISS ESG, Hybrid working can reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%, No role for monetary policy to address climate change, $500bn investment needed to decarbonise NEM, Turning PV waste into investment opportunity, 140 years to gender parity in finance: OMFIF, Government to fund sustainable finance taxonomy development, South Korea leads with ESG fund disclosure taskforce and anti-greenwash laws, Executive directors overwhelmingly male: AICD. Today, bare land is worth more than the intact ecosystems that support our lives. If we want to protect our climate, and the ecosystems that make our lives possible, theres no role for deforestation in Australias future. View an interactive version of this map in ArcGIS Online map viewer. "Let's not look for the same old bulldoze-and-dig-it-up model of recovery. He estimated that in Queensland and NSW alone 970,349ha were cleared in the years 2004 to 2017. On 11/02/22 the government officially listed the koala as Endangered in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. The biennial Living Planet Report, published this week, puts . This map shows the location of National Plantation Inventory regions in northern Australia: PNG [1.0 MB], PDF [0.7 MB]. . Native forests are categorised in Australia's National Forest Inventory into eight national forest types named after their key genus or structural form: Acacia, Callitris, Casuarina, Eucalypt, Mangrove, Melaleuca, Rainforest, and Other native forest (which includes a range of minor native forest types that are named after their dominant genera, including Agonis, Atalaya, Banksia, Hakea, Grevillea, Heterodendron, Leptospermum, Lophostemon and Syncarpia). *This report is part of a journalistic collaboration . An analysis of the imagery for Unearthed has identified 13,500 hectares of deforestation since 2018 - an area more than twice the size of Manhattan - across 57 beef cattle properties in . But in 2012, a peace deal was struck between loggers and protestors. acacias). The next biggest contributor to the data was "grazing modified pastures" at around 125,000 hectares. In Eastern Australia, nearly half of the original forested area has been lost. Carbon capture - real deal or "Hail Mary pass" technology? These trees are not only the koalas' primary habitat but are also their main source of . This wastes up to 10% of Australias carbon budget. Get all the latest science stories from across the ABC. Again, the lion's share of that regrowth 2.7 million hectares has reportedly happened in Queensland, and to a lesser extent in New South Wales. Dr Taylor said eastern Australias forests have been declared a global biodiversity hotspot. This map shows Australia's forests in the National Reserve System, by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected area category: PNG [0.8 MB], PDF [2.5 MB]. To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. reports, Plantation Check out 10 facts about deforestation in Australia. Queensland has contributed half of Australia's deforestation since the '70s, primarily to make way for cattle ranching. The beef industry must show leadership and urgently change its practices to stop selling beef linked to deforestation. Deforestation is Australias hidden emitterlike adding 10 million cars to our roads. This map shows the distribution of burnt forest in Australia, by planned, unplanned, or both planned and unplanned fire in the period 201112 to 201516: PNG [1.1 MB], PDF [2.4 MB]. In contrast to New South Wales, Queensland's land clearing laws were tightened in 2018 and it's expected that clearing figures will drop significantly in the coming reporting periods. Its primarily driven by agriculture (mostly for beef production), mining and urban development. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is committing almost three quarters of its Australian Recycling Investment Fund to develop a flagship construction and demolition (C&D) recycling facility in Queensland. The latest Queensland governments SLATS figures for the year 2019-20 shows: This most recent 2019-20 data was released on 16 December 2022. While there is increasing community support for the protection of forests, NSW laws explicitly reduce the right of communities to have a say about what happens to the states forests. 2023 The Wilderness Society, 5 things you need to know about Deforestation in Australia, majority of landholders are eager to embrace new ways, 7 ways to protect WA's most valuable natural asset. In NSW, the Berejiklian government weakened land-clearing rules in 2017 and habitat destruction has since increased. Maps of Australia's forests are available on the Forest maps page. For instance, using the SLATs method the Queensland state government reported 356,000 and 392,000 hectares were cleared in Queensland in the periods 2016-17 (winter-to-winter) and 2017-18 respectively. The most recent land-clearing data from Queensland for 2019-20 reveals a dire state of affairs in this state alone with: 418,656 hectares of forest and bushland was bulldozed between 2019/20; 85% of the deforestation and land clearing in Queensland was to make space for pasture; More than 180,000 ha was destroyed in Great Barrier Reef catchments, placing further serious stress on the natural wonder. To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The NGA method is based on satellite imagery where 20 per cent canopy cover or greater is classified as forest. 'Glum future for the platypus': why the elusive mammal is disappearing under our noses, Australian wildlife 20 times more likely to encounter deadly feral cats than native predators, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. Thats the misunderstanding driving our countrys deforestation crisis. However, that figure comes with some very big caveats because during that same period, more than 82,000 hectares were granted approval for clearing under pastoral land clearing applications in the NT. That's why I'm leading WWF-Australia's work to help our country transition from a global deforestation hotspot to a world leader in reforestation and ecological restoration. One of the best parts of my job is working with experts in other organisations who share our passion for ending deforestation and transitioning to large-scale reforestation. The forests of Australia are diverse and highly valued, and are among the country's most important natural resources. Acacia forest). In 2010, Australia had 38.0Mha of natural forest, extending over 5.1% of its land area. To get to that conclusion, they have compared the amount of cleared land (3.78 million hectares) with the amount of land regrown (4.19 million hectares), to come up with a "net forest clearing" figure of negative-401,000 hectares. It expands on a 2015 report by WWF which named 11 hotspots, with eastern Australia also appearing on that list. They also provide clean water; protect soil; provide opportunities for recreation and tourism, and scientific and educational pursuits; and support cultural, heritage and aesthetic values. Non-planted forest dominated by introduced species is also included in the Other forest category. Throughout history and into modern times, forests have been razed to make space for agriculture and animal grazing, and to obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction.. Deforestation has greatly altered landscapes around the world. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. To satisfy investors, boards need to take succession planning more seriously. This map shows the distribution of burnt forest in Australia by the number of times each hectare was burnt in the period 201112 to 201516: PNG [0.9 MB], PDF [2.1MB]. Forest policy in Australia is developed and implemented at the national, state and territory levels. "We know that the general public is outraged by this whenever they hear about it. Our biosecurity system helps protects us. "People do see their local favourite patch of bush being bulldozed for a housing or industrial estate, or a road That turns out to be a small percentage of the total destruction in Eastern Australia. We acknowledge sovereignty was never ceded.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website may contain images, names and voices of people who are deceased. With your support, the Wilderness Society recently launched a billboard campaign highlighting deforestation rates across Queensland, and the harm this causes to wildlife. It's primarily driven by agriculture (mostly for beef production), mining and urban development. Western Australia's forests, woodlands and outback native vegetation play a critical role in preserving biodiversity, providing a home for threatened species and storing huge quantities of carbon. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands. Of that cleared land, 370,900 hectares were forests over 30 years old. According to Dr Taylor that means a dense forest can be thinned from 95 per cent canopy to 21 per cent canopy, for instance, without registering as having been cleared under the NGA method. It stuffs our soil and water, suffocates the Reef, kills wildlife, drains our carbon budgetand leaves our towns and suburbs hotter and less liveable. With the support of people like you, the Wilderness Society recently launched a billboard campaign highlighting deforestation rates across Queensland, and the harm this causes to wildlife. Just over 49% of alerts have been in areas classified as high or very high risk. Subscribe to our channel. The once vast brigalow and grassy box forests of inland eastern . A key element of the approach adopted in the NFPS involved the negotiation of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) between the Australian Government and some state governments. Nearly 50% of our forest cover has been cleared in the last two centuries, making Australia one of the worst developed countries for deforestation. 'Reclearing' refers to any forest younger than that.). Bulldozers drag thick chains through the landscape, snapping trees like matchsticks. Even iconic native species, like the koala and the greater glider, are on the road to extinction.In the last 20 years, Queenslands koala population has declined by almost 50%. The total area of land cleared in Queensland was 2,446,600 hectares. While Tasmania's area of land clearing is more than double the Northern Territory's, the total land area of Tasmania is only one-twentieth the size. In a statement to the ABC, a spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources said that is was "misleading to make simple comparisons" between the different reporting methods, and that the Department was confident its records are "complete and accurate". Globally, commercial agriculture and tree plantations were identified as the biggest drivers of deforestation. Check out 10 facts about deforestation in Australia Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system. From a relative high point of 14,500 hectares cleared in a year back in 2008, only 5,300 hectares were cleared in 2018, according to NGA data. Land clearing in the ACT was the lowest of any Australian state or territory between 2010 and 2018. The majority of the 31,800 hectares cleared in the NT was for agriculture. (Supplied: Steven Nowakowski Panoscapes)Mr Davies heads up Rainforest 4: one of several conservation groups raising money to try . Global infrastructure consulting firm AECOM has announced the creation of a specialized team dedicated to delivering nature-based client solutions in Australia and New Zealand. So despite our reputation for untamed wilderness and charismatic wildlife, it's perhaps no surprise that Australia has one of the highest rates of animal extinction in the world. Land-clearing rates rocketed after the axing of restrictions in Queensland and NSW placing eastern Australia alongside the most infamous places in the world for forest destruction, WWF-Australia conservation scientist Martin Taylor said. Thanks! In addition to the NFPS and the RFAs, the Australian Government has a number of key forest policies to achieve key conservation and management outcomes for Australias forest and forest industries. Because the analysis only covered up to the year 2017, it excludes the effects of the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfire season, with WWF saying the accelerating effects of climate change made the need for Australian governments to increase protections for wildlife and habitat more urgent. Australia's native forests provide a range of wood and non-wood products that are used by Australians in their everyday lives. Thats why WWF-Australia has launched Regenerate Australia, the largest wildlife and nature regeneration program in the nations history. But these renowned forests, and unique species like the koala, are under enormous pressure from land clearing, logging and fire. A total of 177,900 hectares were cleared in Victoria, with 16,300 of that classified as forest over 30 years old. Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. An MCG-sized area of forest and bush is bulldozed every 86 seconds in Australia. For species like the koala, we know the biggest problem is the destruction of their forest homes. Your feedback has been submitted. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Australia's land clearing rate is once again among the highest in the world. Below are the key maps from Australias State of the Forests Report 2018. (We will update these figures to reflect the new stats for 2019-20 as soon as possible.). Regional Forestry Hubs map graphic only PDF [0.6 MB], We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. The six tenure classes used for forests in the National Forest Inventory are amalgamations of the wide range of classes used by various state and territory jurisdictions. Of this total forest area, determined as at 2016, 132 million hectares (98%) are 'Native forests', 1.95 million hectares are 'Commercial plantations' and 0.47 million hectares are 'Other forest'. A leaked report from the Natural Resources Commission last year suggested that land clearing may have surged by as much as 13 times. But the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) figures for Queensland show only 304,000 and 254,400 hectares were cleared for the 2017 and 2018 periods almost 190,000 hectares less. Dr Taylor said his Pervasive Inaction report exposed poor enforcement of the national environment law, revealing that almost 250,000 hectares of threatened species habitat were destroyed between 2016 and 2018 in Queensland, with no evidence of any referral and approval under the EPBC Act. This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of cleared land would stretch 318km, say from Canberra to just beyond Sydney. Australia is the only developed nation on the list of the world's deforestation hotspots, according to a new report by WWF, previously known as the World Wildlife Fund. In a country of diverse landscapes, lutruwita / Tasmania stands a world apart. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Of this total forest area, determined as at 2016, 132 million hectares (98%) are 'Native forests', 1.95 million hectares are 'Commercial plantations' and 0.47 million hectares are 'Other forest'. "As soon as the Newman Government came [into office in Queensland] and weakened the laws, in fact, in their own words they 'took the axe' to the vegetation laws, we saw a five-fold increase to just the mature forest being cleared in a five year period," he said.
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