This map shows the location of National Plantation Inventory regions in northern Australia: PNG [1.0 MB], PDF [0.7 MB]. Australia has a total of 134 million hectares of forest, which is equivalent to 17% of Australia's land area. Regional Forestry Hubs map graphic only PDF [0.6 MB], We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. Acacia).. In September, legally binding emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050 were set by Australia's House of Representatives as part of a Climate Change Botched leadership handovers can severely impair company performance. 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. But most of the deforestation is hidden from view.". We've driven 29 mammals to extinction since European colonisation and more than 1,700 others are threatened or endangered. Monitoring satellite imagery and recording suspicious clearing. In NSW, the Berejiklian government weakened land-clearing rules in 2017 and habitat destruction has since increased. 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. An MCG-sized area of forest and bush is bulldozed every 86 seconds in Australia. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Australia is the only nation in the developed world to make the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) global list of deforestation hotspots. Australia has lost 27% of its rainforest, 19% of open forest, 11% of woodland forest, and 28% of mallee forest since 1750. 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. Australia has about 3% of the world's forest area, and globally is the country with the seventh largest forest area. Over Christmas 2022, it tried to sneak out its land clearing data, the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS), for 2019-2020. Australia is not immune to the trade of illegally logged timber. Despite Queensland restoring some restrictions in 2018, eastern Australia remains a deforestation front. WWF-Australia 2018, All rights reserved. Except where otherwise explicitly authorised, any material on this website which may be construed as electoral material or an electoral matter under any State or Commonwealth Law is authorised by M. Brennan on behalf of The Wilderness Society Ltd, 132 Davey Street, Hobart Tasmania 7000. As important catchment zones are stripped bare, the Great Barrier Reef is exposed to a deadly cocktail of silt, animal faeces and industrial fertilisers. Queensland has contributed half of Australia's deforestation since the '70s, primarily to make way for cattle ranching. Deforestation is the purposeful clearing of forested land. acacias). Whats a tree worth? A total of 177,900 hectares were cleared in Victoria, with 16,300 of that classified as forest over 30 years old. In total that roughly equals a 1-kilometre-wide piece of land 2,884 kilometres long or from Darwin to Adelaide with change. Note: The names of the national native forest types have capitalised initial letters (e.g. The total area of land cleared in Queensland was 2,446,600 hectares. About half of Australia's Commercial plantations are exotic softwood (predominantly Pinus radiata), while the other half are hardwood (predominantly eucalypt species). 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]. In addition to native forests, Australia's National Forest Inventory recognises two other categories of forest. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. Want more science plus health, environment, tech and more? Carbon capture - real deal or "Hail Mary pass" technology? A total of 108,700 hectares was cleared in South Australia. This map shows the distribution of Australia's native forests by crown cover class (i.e. This was rooted in some flawed ideas about the biology of soils and the resilience of our landscapes. As the only developed country with a deforestation front, it's no surprise Australias mammal extinction rates are the highest in the world. by Basten Gokkon on 21 April 2023. The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic . Also like Tasmania, native forest logging in Tasmania has been a hotly contested issue. Learn more about these deforestation hotspots. We need to make this an issue they cant ignore, so that Queensland's spectacular forests and bushland, home to some of the most iconic animals in the world, remain intact and healthy. Historically, deforestation was considered best practice. They have an ancient historylet's make sure they have a living future. Deforestation and tree-clearing is the major cause of habitat loss for many threatened and endangered species. 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]. Read our WA native vegetation report detailing 7 ways to protect WA's most valuable natural asset. ESG & greenwashing: how did the investment industry end up here? Using a newly developed satellite data classification technique, researchers from Geoscience Australia's Digital Earth Australia (DEA) program have created a series of maps that show how mangrove locations have shifted year-to-year in response to storm events and a changing climate. Bulldozers destroy over 740,000 ha of forest and bush every year. This gives you a picture of how much land has been cleared, right across Australia, from 2010 until the most recently available data in 2018. Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. 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. Despite the clearing of more than 3.5 million hectares nationally during the 2010-2018 period, according to the National Greenhouse Accounts(NGA) data there has been a net increase in tree cover in Australia during that time. These trees are not only the koalas' primary habitat but are also their main source 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. Is social the most important part of ESG investing? A DES spokesperson told the ABC that "SLATs applies a highly rigorous methodology". The data for the 2018-19 reporting periods, particularly from Queensland and New South Wales, will determine whether that has changed. Forest policy in Australia is developed and implemented at the national, state and territory levels. Its 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. 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. The Deforestation Fronts report offers an in-depth analysis of 24 'deforestation fronts' around the globe, from Latin America to Africa and Asia. 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. 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. This change is needed throughout the whole supply chain, from producers through to retailers, such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants. These stats show Australia's in the midst of a deforestation crisis that's affecting our wildlife, climate and future. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands. An important secondary cause was logging, which the report says remains significant in some places in eastern Australia. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians, whose land we work upon and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Your feedback has been submitted. 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. That's because of stronger laws coming into play in Queensland and New South Wales.". But Dr Taylor from the WWF disputes that. In that case, the data would show no net loss in forest cover, despite a significant deficit of habitat occurring. In 2015, WWF's Saving Forests at Risk analysis identified 11 global deforestation fronts including eastern Australia. The Queensland government tightened land-clearing rules in 2018 but Taylor said there was not enough data available yet to determine the effect of those changes. The main cause of deforestation is agriculture (poorly planned infrastructure is emerging as a big threat too) and the main cause of forest degradation is illegal logging. More than 88,000 hectares of primary forest was cleared in New South Wales. The system used to estimate tree cover/loss for the NGA defines woody vegetation as of a "height or potential height greater than 2 metres, crown cover greater than 20 per cent and a minimum patch size of 0.2 hectares". "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. It expands on a 2015 report by WWF which named 11 hotspots, with eastern Australia also appearing on that list. In New South Wales, 99% of koala habitat on private land is not protected from clearing. Here we are, a developed country, chipping away, whereas every other developed country in the world has stopped doing that, Taylor said. View an interactive version of this map in ArcGIS Online map viewer. Land clearing in the ACT was the lowest of any Australian state or territory between 2010 and 2018. We do business with you using online platforms. To stop extinction Australia needs to step up our efforts to protect critical forest habitats for Australian wildlife, particularly unburned low fire-risk refuges, and let those that have been cleared regenerate. It means just 50% of Australias forest and bushland remainsmuch of it degraded. Unlike other states and territories, Queensland also has its own statewide annual land clearing monitoring program based on a method called Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATs). We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. RFAs are 20-year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australias native forests. The analysis is done via satellite imagery and cannot pick up subtle differences happening at ground level, according to WWF forestry expert Martin Taylor. Of that, around 73,825 ha, or 80%, was bulldozed for beef production. This map shows the distribution of the Rainforest native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.0 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. Taylor said the analysis focused on so-called hotspot parts of the eastern states where land-clearing rates were highest. This map shows the distribution of forests in northern Australia, by forest tenure: PNG [1.3 MB], PDF [0.8 MB]. Of that cleared land, 370,900 hectares were forests over 30 years old. 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. Click here to access all of the maps from Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018. But Dr Taylor said ultimately stronger laws are what drive down land clearing. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. The related common names do not have capitalised initial letters (e.g. More than 43 million hectares were lost in these fronts between 2004 and 2017, an area roughly the size of Morocco or six times the size of Tasmania. Some forests on private land are publicly managed as conservation reserves. reports, Plantation Around 418,656 hectares of Queenslands forest and bushland was impacted by clearing in 2019-20 alone. 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. 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! Deforestation puts human health and the health of our planet at risk. This map shows the distribution of forests in northern Australia, by forest type: PNG [1.4 MB], PDF [0.9 MB]. About 2,000 years ago, 80 percent of Western Europe was forested; today the figure is 34 percent. The once abundant koala is rapidly vanishing from New South Wales and Queensland. Advocating for new laws that support the life our lives depend on. Land clearing in Australia: How does your state (or territory) compare? We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Here, I describe the deforestation trends, drivers and policy responses in Australia over the last four decades. WWF is Australias most trusted conservation organisation. State and territory governments have primary responsibility for forest management. Australia's native forests provide a range of wood and non-wood products that are used by Australians in their everyday lives. Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland and they have continued to do so. He pointed to what happened in Queensland in the last decade or so as an example. Beef farming in Australia is driving significant deforestation, including in the habitats of threatened species, according to a new satellite analysis. Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. More than 100 nations including Australia this month signed up to stop or reverse deforestation by 2030. Below are the key maps from Australias State of the Forests Report 2018. Rethinking ethics and code of conduct training, Key sustainability factors impacting business in 2022, From the courtroom to the boardroom: climate change risks and remedies, Why sustainability matters in real estate, Measuring sustainability performance: comparing an SDG score with ESG ratings, Deep impact: the next step in sustainable investing, We must approach public equities with an 'impact' mindset. But how much land are we clearing? 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 . "This streamlines regulatory processes for the timber industry," according to the Department. 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. Calling on big business to source and sell products free from deforestation. '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. Koalas live in gum trees, also commonly known as eucalyptus trees. 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. Thanks! 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. 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. It is estimated that up to 10%, or approximately $900 million, of our timber imports could come from high-risk sources every year. 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 [1.0 MB], PDF [2.1MB]. The main driver of clearing in New South Wales is agriculture. 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. Intensive palm oil production is also creating all kinds of environmental fall-out, including air, soil and water pollution, and soil erosion. This map shows the location of Australia's commercial hardwood and softwood plantations and the boundaries of National Plantation Inventory (NPI) regions: PNG [0.7 MB], PDF [1.4 MB]. The latest Queensland governments SLATS figures for the year 2019-20 shows: This most recent 2019-20 data was released on 16 December 2022. 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. With your support, the Wilderness Society recently launched a billboard campaign highlighting deforestation rates across Queensland, and the harm this causes to wildlife. (Supplied: Steven Nowakowski Panoscapes)Mr Davies heads up Rainforest 4: one of several conservation groups raising money to try . Editor's note (12/10/2020): This story has been updated to clarify that agriculture has a bigger impact than native forest logging on land clearing in Victoria and Tasmania, and to define woody vegetation under the National Greenhouse Accounts guidelines.Editor's note (16/12/2020): This article has been edited to remove inaccurate references to deforestation; additional context has been included to clearly identify that agriculture has a much bigger impact than native forest logging on land clearing in Australia; and the definition of woody vegetation under the National Greenhouse Accounts guidelines has been corrected. 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]. Culture is how an organisation thinks, acts, and interacts. Koalas live in the forests of Australia and therefore are highly affected by deforestation. . Subscribe to our channel. To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. "Only the Australian Government's reporting is undertaken in accordance with international standards established by the UNFCCC.". This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of land would stretch from Hobart to the southern suburbs or Brisbane. The report says the comprehensive failure of the federal government to crack down on illegal clearing has limited the effectiveness of Australian environmental laws in protecting some habitats. 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".
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