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. This wastes up to 10% of Australias carbon budget. Land clearing in Australia: How does your state (or territory - ABC For some perspective, the state cleared the equivalent of 1000 football fields per day in 2015-16. Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care. Australia has a total of 134 million hectares of forest, which is equivalent to 17% of Australia's land area. Forest policy in Australia is developed and implemented at the national, state and territory levels. Culture is how an organisation thinks, acts, and interacts. In that case, the data would show no net loss in forest cover, despite a significant deficit of habitat occurring. Getting a fix on this figure is tough. Bulldozing trees worsens climate changecarbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when the fallen trees are left to burn or rot. 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. Leasehold forest is forest on Crown land (land that belongs to a national, state or territory government) that is typically privately managed. Sediments and chemicals run off cleared areas into waterways that flow out to the Great Barrier Reefsmothering this already struggling icon. Here, there is a direct relationship between the growth of oil palm estates and deforestation. ESG & greenwashing: how did the investment industry end up here? "Queensland's SLATs data undergoes extensive manual editing and verification to ensure a high level of confidence in the data for Queensland's monitoring and reporting requirements.". However, native forest and plantation forestry only contributed to around 86,000 hectares of clearing in this period. Dr Taylor said that, despite being in the grips of a global economic downturn due to the COVID pandemic, now was a good time to examine how we could limit land clearing. WWF is Australias most trusted conservation organisation. Bulldozers destroy over 740,000 ha of forest and bush every year. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. Illegal logging - DAFF This map shows the distribution of burnt forest in areas of northern and southern Australia, by the number of times each hectare was burnt in the period 201112 to 201516: PNG [1.3 MB], PDF [1.3MB]. We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. 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]. , 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. On 11/02/22 the government officially listed the koala as Endangered in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. 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 . , 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. 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. Mining and building of town infrastructure like roads or commercial buildings are other drivers. Beef farming in Australia is driving significant deforestation, including in the habitats of threatened species, according to a new satellite analysis. Subscribe to our channel. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the There is no official data on how widespread this may be, however Dr Taylor said he had found numerous instances by trawling through satellite imagery several of which he showed to the ABC. "It's ridiculous to say there is more forest [now than 10 years ago]," he said. 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. 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. 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. Australia is facing a deforestation crisis, with an area equivalent to MCG being destroyed every 86 seconds. It's clear that the destruction of forest and bushland across Queensland continues to be the biggest contributor to Australia's terrible deforestation record. It means just 50% of Australias forest and bushland remainsmuch of it degraded. The Deforestation Fronts report offers an in-depth analysis of 24 'deforestation fronts' around the globe, from Latin America to Africa and Asia. by Basten Gokkon on 21 April 2023. Undertaking research to blow the lid off this hidden crisis. The extent of northern Australia in this analysis includes Western Australia and Queensland north of the Tropic of Capricorn and the entire Northern Territory. Deforestation in Australia is a major environmental concern, leading to the loss of millions of native animals, including endangered species, and destruction of forests and woodlands. 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. 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. Australia has about 3% of the world's forest area, and globally is the country with the seventh largest forest area. Deforestation is Australias hidden emitterlike adding 10 million cars to our roads. About half of Australia's Commercial plantations are exotic softwood (predominantly Pinus radiata), while the other half are hardwood (predominantly eucalypt species). But in Eastern Australia, agriculture is by far the biggest driver of deforestation. The once abundant koala is rapidly vanishing from New South Wales and Queensland. EU parliament passes historic law forcing companies to track deforestation Site terms Photos and graphics WWF or used with permission. The latest Queensland governments SLATS figures for the year 2019-20 shows: This most recent 2019-20 data was released on 16 December 2022. Agriculture was the biggest driver of land clearing in Tasmania. 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. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Get all the latest science stories from across the ABC. 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, said WWF-Australia conservation scientist Dr Martin Taylor. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians, whose land we work upon and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. A total of 177,900 hectares were cleared in Victoria, with 16,300 of that classified as forest over 30 years old. But how much land are we clearing? The forests of Australia are diverse and highly valued, and are among the country's most important natural resources. Either some of those landholders still haven't cleared that land, or it hasn't been picked up by NGA survey methods. Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species Acacia 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. Wilderness Society | Deforestation Australian beef industry linked to destruction of forests home to 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. The Australian, state and territory governments are all signatories to the 1992 National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS). 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. The definition of forest used by Australia's National Forest Inventory is: An area, incorporating all living and non-living components, that is dominated by trees having usually a single stem and a mature or potentially mature stand height exceeding 2 metres and with existing or potential crown cover of overstorey strata about equal to or greater than 20 per cent. Amazon deforestation is stopping forest from recycling rainwater, which View an interactive version of this map in ArcGIS Online map viewer. How Australia became one of the worst deforesters in the world Dr Taylor said claims that forest area has actually expanded in Australia were misleading. An MCG-sized area of forest and bush is bulldozed every 86 seconds in Australia. And its not good news for nature. Deforestation and tree-clearing is the major cause of habitat loss for many threatened and endangered species. In WWF's new report Deforestation fronts: Drivers and responses in a changing world, published today, the deforestation . 'Reclearing' refers to any forest younger than that.). Despite Queensland restoring some restrictions in 2018, eastern Australia remains a deforestation front. 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]. statistics, Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate, Forestry regional profiles - data visualisation, Australia's native forest types - data visualisation, Australias State of the Forests Report 2018, an analysis by the CRC for Developing Northern Australia, Boundary maps for the eleven Regional Forestry Hubs, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website. Queensland has the largest area of Australias forest (51.8 million hectares39% of Australias forest), with the Northern Territory (23.7 million hectares18%), Western Australia (21.0 million hectares16%), and New South Wales (20.4 million hectares15%), making up much of the balance. acacias). The Regional Forestry Hubs were created under the National Forest Industries Plan [PDF 3.1 MB . This map shows the distribution of the Melaleuca native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.0 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. Deforestationthe reduction or complete removal of native forest and bushlandhas escalated over the recent years to reach globally significant levels. This wood isnt used for anythingits burned or left to rot. We can't protect nature and wildlife, safeguard human . "This streamlines regulatory processes for the timber industry," according to the Department. Australia is the only country in the developed world to appear on the list, with eastern Australia named alongside Colombia, Peru, Laos and Mozambique as locations with medium rates of deforestation. This change is needed throughout the whole supply chain, from producers through to retailers, such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants. This map shows the distribution of forests in northern Australia, by forest type: PNG [1.4 MB], PDF [0.9 MB]. Thanks! 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. View an interactive version of this map in ArcGIS Online map viewer. Deforestation in Australia & its Impact on Koalas Palm Oil | WWF Australia As well as land clearing, Western Australia's forests are under threat from climate change. Over 43 million hectares, an area roughly the size of Morocco, was lost in these 'deforestation fronts' between 2004 and 2017. For species like the koala, we know the biggest problem is the destruction of their forest homes. 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. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements. WWF-Australia 2018, All rights reserved. The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic . In WWFs new report Deforestation fronts: Drivers and responses in a changing world, published today, the deforestation fronts have been expanded to 24 with eastern Australia remaining on the list. In the 13 years from 2004 to 2017, an area of forest six times the size of Tasmania, more than 43 million hectares, was lost in the 24 deforestation fronts. But Dr Taylor said ultimately stronger laws are what drive down land clearing. 2023 The Wilderness Society, The drone footage, filmed 10 to 11 November 2022, 250km southwest of Cairns, Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS), Tell big supermarkets and fast food chains to end deforestation. 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. According to Dr Taylor, the SLATs method gives a more accurate measure of tree loss and the WWF are calling for a standardised national system for monitoring forest cover in Australia. 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. ('Primary' refers to forests 30 years and older. 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. This map shows the location of Australia's Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management categories. These stats show Australia's in the midst of a deforestation crisis that's affecting our wildlife, climate and future. Opinion. Australia is a world leader in chopping down trees and wiping out animals: two questionable accomplishments that are tightly connected. In total that roughly equals a 1-kilometre-wide piece of land 2,884 kilometres long or from Darwin to Adelaide with change. Australia's illegal logging prohibition laws The issue is that a mature forest can be cleared in one place, and an equivalent area of 2-metre saplings may have regrown in another. Mangroves on the move | Digital Earth Australia | Geoscience Australia Its To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. (We will update these figures to reflect the new stats for 2019-20 as soon as possible.). According to the report, expansion of commercial agriculture and tree plantations are the biggest drivers of deforestation around the world. Deforestation - National Geographic Society Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. It can't be done, forestry industry says. Thats why WWF-Australia has launched Regenerate Australia, the largest wildlife and nature regeneration program in the nations history. 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. These trees are not only the koalas' primary habitat but are also their main source of . Of the 288,400 hectares cleared in Western Australia, 68,7000 hectares were primary forests at least 30 years old. This map shows the location of regions where forests are managed under a Regional Forest Agreement: PNG [0.8 MB], PDF [2.6 MB]. Although native forest logging has been responsible for clearing a small area by comparison, it has been a flashpoint in Tasmania for decades. Australian's have a huge appetite for shopping. The interim report called for an independent regulator that would be responsible for enforcing and monitoring compliance with the law. This map shows the distribution of the Casuarina native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. The beef industry must show leadership and urgently change its practices to stop selling beef linked to deforestation. Its primarily driven by agriculture (mostly for beef production), mining and urban development. Forest destruction was already bad enough for the region to be declared a global deforestation front, then the 2019-20 bushfires burned about 12.6 million hectares in eastern Australia, he said. Deforestation puts human health and the health of our planet at risk. Let's look to a green recovery that's built on conservation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture.". The only nationally consistent data comes from the Federal Government's National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA). The ANZ-based team aims to address complex problems related to climate change, biodiversity loss, and emissions reduction. 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. Australia remains the only developed nation on the list of global deforestation fronts. 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'. reports, Plantation WWF report finds area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. Almost two-thirds of NSW native forests burned during the Black Summer Bushfires, devastating huge swathes of threatened species habitat. About 2,000 years ago, 80 percent of Western Europe was forested; today the figure is 34 percent. Operation Artemis: Colombia's failed military operation to stop deforestation. 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. 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. This map shows the location of National Plantation Inventory regions in northern Australia: PNG [1.0 MB], PDF [0.7 MB]. 2023 The Wilderness Society, Drivers of deforestation and land clearing in Queensland, Qld koala habitat clearing linked to beef production: 2018-19, Australian beef and deforestation: Corporate scorecard, Australia is facing a deforestation crisis, with an area equivalent to MCG being destroyed every 86 seconds. The environment minister, Sussan Ley, declined to comment on WWFs new findings as she had not seen the report. 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. The once vast brigalow and grassy box forests of inland eastern . State of the forests 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]. The biennial Living Planet Report, published this week, puts . Podcast: Who Wins the Fist Bump Board Award? Mangroves on the move. 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. Deforestation is the purposeful clearing of forested land. The main driver of clearing in New South Wales is agriculture. Of that, around 73,825 ha, or 80%, was bulldozed for beef production. Only when an area drops below that 20 per cent threshold is it registered as forest loss. 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". The series of billboards across Brisbane drew attention to the devastating effects that deforestation and land clearing have on wildlife across Queensland. The TCFD framework - What is it and how can it be applied to investment analysis? Its an old colonial idea. Deforestation also reduces rainfall in Australia, according to Clive McAlpine from the University of Queensland. But these renowned forests, and unique species like the koala, are under enormous pressure from land clearing, logging and fire. If we want to protect Australia's remarkable biodiversity, including its most iconic animals, we must protect habitat. 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. Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. The 24 fronts identified in the report are: 10 West Africa Liberia/Ivory Coast/Ghana, 12 Central Africa Gabon/Cameroon/Republic of Congo. reports, Plantation 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.

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