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". Learn more about these deforestation hotspots. Text available under Creative Commons license. But how much land are we clearing? And the state leading this destructive charge is Queensland. And the state leading this destructive charge is Queensland. But currently, none of the big supermarkets and fast food chains can guarantee that the beef they source and sell is free of deforestation. In 2010, Australia had 38.0Mha of natural forest, extending over 5.1% of its land area. This continued destruction is devastating for the environment and wildlife. The related formal genus names are italicised and have capitalised initial letters (e.g. These trees are not only the koalas' primary habitat but are also their main source of . , Only 50% of Australia's forests and bushlands remain intact compared to pre-European arrival. This map shows the distribution of Australia's native forests by crown cover class (i.e. The report says cattle ranching (the destruction of trees to create pasture for cattle) was by far the most significant driver of forest loss or degradation in eastern Australia. (modern). 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. Eastern Australia is one of the top 24 global deforestation front, making Australia the only developed nation on a list from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The analysis is done via satellite imagery and cannot pick up subtle differences happening at ground level, according to WWF forestry expert Martin Taylor. Is social the most important part of ESG investing? 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. Wilderness Society | 10 facts about deforestation in Australia Australia among the top deforesting nations in the world, WWF - ABC "Let's not look for the same old bulldoze-and-dig-it-up model of recovery. Australia is facing a deforestation crisis, with an area equivalent to MCG being destroyed every 86 seconds. statistics, Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018, Australia's State of the Forests Report 2013, Australia's State of the Forests Report 2008, Australia's State of the Forests Report 2003, Australia's State of the Forests Report 1998, Mandates and drivers for Australia's State of the Forests Report, Benefits of producing Australia's State of the Forests Reports, National Forest Inventory Steering Committee, Forests, land and Australias Indigenous peoples, Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate, Forestry regional profiles - data visualisation, Australia's native forest types - data visualisation, Australia's forests and forestry glossary, Australia's native forest - data visualisation, Regional profiles for forestry - data visualisation. Of the 288,400 hectares cleared in Western Australia, 68,7000 hectares were primary forests at least 30 years old. Land clearing in Australia describes the removal of native vegetation and deforestation in Australia.Land clearing involves the removal of native vegetation and habitats, including the bulldozing of native bushlands, forests, savannah, woodlands and native grasslands and the draining of natural wetlands for replacement with agriculture, urban and other land uses. "This streamlines regulatory processes for the timber industry," according to the Department. Investing in health and disease prevention is the best cure, Identifying potential risks of COVID-19 and modern slavery in supply chain, How smart approaches to decarbonisation can generate alpha. These stats show Australia's in the midst of a deforestation crisis that's affecting our wildlife, climate and future. Neither Queensland's Department of Environment and Science (DES) nor the Federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources responded directly to questions from the ABC about the differences in their methodologies, but both said they were confident in their systems. If we want to protect Australia's remarkable biodiversity, including its most iconic animals, we must protect habitat. Historical clearing has caused local climates to increase by up to 2 degrees . But these renowned forests, and unique species like the koala, are under enormous pressure from land clearing, logging and fire. For species like the koala, we know the biggest problem is the destruction of their forest homes. (Supplied: Steven Nowakowski Panoscapes)Mr Davies heads up Rainforest 4: one of several conservation groups raising money to try . Below are the key maps from Australias State of the Forests Report 2018. Our 1km wide strip of cleared land would stretch for a whopping 24,466 kilometres roughly all the way around Australia twice (minus Tassie). In the 60s and 70s, agriculturalists in Queenslands Brigalow Belt were actually fined for letting their land regenerate. Its primarily driven by agriculture (mostly for beef production), mining and urban development. 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]. Only when an area drops below that 20 per cent threshold is it registered as forest loss. That will not happen until state safeguards axed in the past decade are restored and until the national environment law starts to be fully enforced, he said. Deforestation and Forest Degradation | Threats | WWF More than 100 nations including Australia this month signed up to stop or reverse deforestation by 2030. Since 2015 the Australian government has committed more than $1.5bn of . . The extent of northern Australia in this analysis includes Western Australia and Queensland north of the Tropic of Capricorn and the entire Northern Territory. The once abundant koala is rapidly vanishing from New South Wales and Queensland. According to the report, expansion of commercial agriculture and tree plantations are the biggest drivers of deforestation around the world. 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 distribution of the Callitris native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. This map shows the distribution of the Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management category for northern Australia: PNG [1.2 MB], PDF [0.8 MB]. Australia's most-read trade publication for wealth management professionals. Wilderness Society | Queensland deforestation reports, Plantation Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. 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. The threats manifest themselves in the form of deforestation and forest degradation. And a bad one. by Basten Gokkon on 21 April 2023. 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. Australia has one of the highest rates of land clearing in the world. Australia's forest policies - DAFF - Agriculture Podcast: Who Wins the Fist Bump Board Award? Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. Getting a fix on this figure is tough. Either some of those landholders still haven't cleared that land, or it hasn't been picked up by NGA survey methods. Your feedback has been submitted. Could AI save the Amazon rainforest? Deforestation Fronts | WWF A further 21.7 million hectares of native forest (17%) are in formal nature conservation reserves, and 9.8 million hectares of native forest (7.4%) are in multiple-use public native forests., More than half of Australias forests (69.5 million hectares, 52% of Australia's forest area) is identified as part of the Indigenous forest estate as one of four broad Indigenous land tenure and management categories: Indigenous owned and managed; Indigenous managed; Indigenous co-managed; and Other special rights. 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. 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. Deforestation in Australia & its Impact on Koalas ESG forms an integral part of our process when looking at resource companies within our investment universe. The following maps of forests in northern Australia were prepared in 2019 by ABARES for an analysis by the CRC for Developing Northern Australia. WWF report finds area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. The data for the 2018-19 reporting periods, particularly from Queensland and New South Wales, will determine whether that has changed. Across the wide range of rainfall and soil conditions that support forest, most of Australia's 'Native forest' category of forest is dominated by eucalypts (77%) and acacias (8%). The biennial Living Planet Report, published this week, puts . 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%. Note: The names of the national native forest types have capitalised initial letters (e.g. This map shows the distribution of native forest available and suitable for commercial wood production in northern Australia: PNG [1.3 MB], PDF [0.8 MB]. ESG & greenwashing: how did the investment industry end up here? We do business with you using online platforms. The following selection of maps is from the Australian forest profiles 2019: This map shows the distribution of the Acacia native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.2 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. Deforestation and logging in Australia: an assault on wildlife - in Educating Australians on the benefits of intact ecosystems. At WWF, we work in Australia and in our Asia-Pacific backyard to protect endangered species and habitats, meet the challenge of climate change, and build a world where people live in harmony with nature. Opinion. The analysis identifies 24 deforestation fronts worldwide where a total of 43 million hectares of forest was destroyed in the period from 2004 until 2017. In 2019, Premier Dan Andrews committed to ending native forest logging in the state by 2030, and in the wake of last season's devastating bushfires there have been calls to bring that end forward. Ecuador was originally largely forested, but . Thats why WWF-Australia has launched Regenerate Australia, the largest wildlife and nature regeneration program in the nations history. The countries with high rates of deforestation include Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar and Borneo. Consequently, a total of 88.2 million hectares (67%) of Australias native forest is under some form of private management. The once vast brigalow and grassy box forests of inland eastern . Acacia).. 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. On the Koala Coast, numbers are down by 80%. A total of 177,900 hectares were cleared in Victoria, with 16,300 of that classified as forest over 30 years old. , Australia has lost 27% of its rainforest, 19% of open forest, 11% of woodland forest, and 28% of mallee forest since 1750., Australia holds the record for the highest number of mammal extinctions globally. 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. The sections below are key background information to reporting in Australia's State of the Forests Reportand related information on the Forests Australia website.SeeAustralia's State of the Forests Reportfor detailed information on Australia's forests. State of the forests 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. In addition to native forests, Australia's National Forest Inventory recognises two other categories of forest. We can even reverse our emissions in the process. This map shows the distribution of the Rainforest native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.0 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. As important catchment zones are stripped bare, the Great Barrier Reef is exposed to a deadly cocktail of silt, animal faeces and industrial fertilisers. 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. But Dr Taylor from the WWF disputes that. To give life a chance, we need strong, sensible deforestation laws. . Let's look to a green recovery that's built on conservation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture.". Deforestation has to stop. Our analysis of the 2018-2019 data found that shockingly, 92,718 hectares of the 668,208 hectares was koala habitat. 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'. Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), Australia's forest and forest products industries, Accelerate Adoption of Wood Processing Innovation Program, Exports of unprocessed wood (wood export licensing), Commercial environmental forestry: Summary of the 4 year program, Optimising transport choice for plantation harvests, Why a National Indigenous Forestry Strategy, Plantations for Australia: the 2020 Vision, Forests and People - the Social Assessment, Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management, People jobs and communities - Social assessments, Annual reports and five year reviews by state, World Heritage Sub-theme: Eucalypt-dominated vegetation, Future of Our Forest Kit - Media Releases, Australia's sustainable forest management, Australia's Sustainable Forest Management Framework of Criteria and Indicators 2009, Development of Project Planning and Evaluation for Farm Forestry, The development of an effective methodology to capture forest type condition and volume data for privately managed forests, National principles related to wood production in plantations, Australia's Long Term Ecological Research Forest Sites, Mechanical Bushfire Fuel Load Reduction Programme, Monitoring the social and economic impacts of forestry, Preparing forest industries for the future - climate change research, The Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement Industry Development Programs, Research into alternatives to clear felling in old growth forests, TCFA Research into alternatives to clearfelling (Final Report), TCFA Research into alternatives to clearfelling (Operating Plan), Research into alternatives to the use of 1080, Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement Media Releases, Tasmanian Forest Contractors Exit Assistance Program, Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement, Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement - Contractors Voluntary Exit Grants Program, Voluntary Exit Grants Program frequently asked questions, Terms of reference for an independent facilitator, Forestry contacts, agencies and organisations, Importing timber and wood related products, Australia's bilateral relationships on forestry, Illegal Logging: Regional Capacity Building Partnership, Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management (APFNet), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Tropical Timber Organization, Report on the visit to China by NSW Rural Fire Service Forest Fire Management, Farm Forestry Plantations and Water publications, Growing a Better Australia-A Billion Trees for Jobs and Growth, National Forest Industries Plan Progress Report, Australian Forestry - planning tomorrow for today, Growing a Better Australia A Billion Trees for Jobs and Growth. 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]. Fact check: Is Queensland clearing land as fast as Brazil? 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. Queensland has contributed half of Australia's deforestation since the '70s, primarily to make way for cattle ranching. Forests of lutruwita / Tasmania These forests support some of Australia's most iconic species. These RFAs include their own environmental protections and because of this timber harvesting operations done in accordance with these agreements "are not subject to certain Commonwealth legislative requirements", according to the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). Here, I describe the deforestation trends, drivers and policy responses in Australia over the last four decades. On 12 September 2017, Australian, state and territory forestry ministers issued a joint ministerial statement of support for the forestry industry. We have also seen isolated cases of high-value Australian timber being illegally logged. Learn more about deforestation in Queensland. Want more science plus health, environment, tech and more? This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements. The related common names do not have capitalised initial letters (e.g. A DES spokesperson told the ABC that "SLATs applies a highly rigorous methodology". "It's ridiculous to say there is more forest [now than 10 years ago]," he said. , Carbon emissions released by land clearing across Australia are equivalent to about a third of the total emissions released by all of the coal-fired power stations in the country. As well as land clearing, Western Australia's forests are under threat from climate change. Forest destruction is a threat to more than 700 endangered Australian plants and animals and WWF-Australia has previously highlighted the effects of clearing conducted without threatened species assessments. Around 418,656 hectares of Queenslands forest and bushland was impacted by clearing in 2019-20 alone. This was rooted in some flawed ideas about the biology of soils and the resilience of our landscapes. Site terms Photos and graphics WWF or used with permission. Only 50% of Australia's forests and bushlands remain intact compared to pre-European arrival. With deforestation comes extinction: Australia is the worst offending country for mammal extinctions. This map shows the distribution of the Casuarina native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. 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. Australias 2019-20 bushfires were too recent to be considered in the analysis which tracked 24 deforestation fronts from 2004 to 2017. Deforestation threatens much of Australia's extraordinary biodiversity and, if not redressed, will blight the environmental legacy we leave future generations, warn scientists including Richard Kingsford, Martine Maron and Brendan Wintle. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Deforestationthe reduction or complete removal of native forest and bushlandhas escalated over the recent years to reach globally significant levels. State and territory governments have primary responsibility for forest management. 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. The following map was prepared and published by ABARES: This map provides a detailed snapshot of the forestry industry, including the location of major wood processing facilities, native forest tenure, hardwood and softwood plantations, as well as roads and forestry ports: PDF [12.1 MB] and higher resolution version PDF [36.6 MB]. Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care. This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of cleared land would stretch 318km, say from Canberra to just beyond Sydney. Subscribe to gain unlimited access to news, research and analysis of ESG factors for ASX listed companies and investors. We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia. If we go back to our 1-kilometre-wide strip of land, South Australia's total clearing stretches almost 1,100km from Newcastle to Melbourne. And around 73,285ha of thator a whopping 80%was destroyed for beef production. '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. Australia has about 3% of the world's forest area, and globally is the country with the seventh largest forest area. For some perspective, the state cleared the equivalent of 1000 football fields per day in 2015-16. 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. Subscribe to FS Sustainability to get the latest ESG news and research. Your feedback has been submitted. Australia Deforestation Rates & Statistics | GFW - Global Forest Watch The vast majority of clearing in Queensland is for agriculture over 90 per cent of cleared forest was replaced by pasture in the years 2016-2019. Deforestation is Australia's hidden emitterlike adding 10 million cars to our roads. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands. Although Operation Artemis cost Colombia more than 3.4 billion Colombian Pesos (about $765,000), deforestation did not slow down, going from 158,894 ha (about 392,636 acres) lost to deforestation . But critics say RFAs allow logging operations to bypass federal environment laws and often result in the habitat of threatened species being cleared without any environmental impact assessment. If this happened, the whole industry would need to clean up its act. A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature names eastern Australia among 24 global deforestation fronts the only developed nation on the list. 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. 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. Agriculture was the reason for most of the clearing, with "grazing native vegetation" accounting for more than 1.8 million hectares of clearing. Building a case for rehabilitation funding as a climate solution. This map shows the distribution of the Melaleuca native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.0 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. Australia remains the only developed nation on the list of global - WWF Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB. It's clear that the destruction of forest and bushland across Queensland continues to be the biggest contributor to Australia's terrible deforestation record. The total area of land cleared in Queensland was 2,446,600 hectares. A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature names eastern Australia among 24 global deforestation fronts - the only developed nation on the list. 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. "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. Bulldozing trees worsens climate changecarbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when the fallen trees are left to burn or rot. Why deforestation is a matter of concern for everyone? 10 Countries With the Highest Deforestation Rates in the World "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. In Australia, the destruction of vegetation for cattle pasture is the most significant driver of forest loss and degradation, but the continued logging of native forests in a number of eastern states is named as an important secondary cause. The Regional Forestry Hubs were created under the National Forest Industries Plan[PDF 3.1 MB] and associated budget measures to identify economic and social opportunities and benefits in regions with existing concentrations of wood supply resources, processing and/or manufacturing operations, established transport links, and strong potential for growth. From policymakers to companies to consumers, urgent action is needed to halt forest loss. 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. Your feedback has been submitted. ABARES is in the process of updating indicators for SOFR with data up to or as at 2021, with the intention of publishing the updated indicators from mid to late 2023. Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. 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. 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. If we want to protect our climate, and the ecosystems that make our lives possible, theres no role for deforestation in Australias future. The Deforestation Fronts report offers an in-depth analysis of 24 'deforestation fronts' around the globe, from Latin America to Africa and Asia. Although native forest logging has been responsible for clearing a small area by comparison, it has been a flashpoint in Tasmania for decades. Calling on big business to source and sell products free from deforestation. This map shows the location of Australia's Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management categories. Deforestationthe reduction or complete removal of native forest and bushlandhas escalated over the recent years to reach globally significant levels.