deforestation in australia locations

The Regional Forestry Hubs were created under the National Forest Industries Plan [PDF 3.1 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. The UN Global Compact Network Australia (UNGCNA) has hired a new executive director, recruiting from the Victorian government. Your feedback has been submitted. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system. WWF-Australia 2018, All rights reserved. ESG forms an integral part of our process when looking at resource companies within our investment universe. "The LULUCF activity tables are very primitive," Dr Taylor said. Where is the worst deforestation happening in Australia? Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland and they have continued to do so. Tens of millions of native animals are killed annually by this scale of clearing. "We're putting huge amounts of taxpayer dollars into avoided deforestation and reforestation and at the same time we . Wilderness Society | Deforestation Beef farming in Australia is driving significant deforestation, including in the habitats of threatened species, according to a new satellite analysis. 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. 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. 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. Most of it is out bush, far from the public gaze, and most people don't know it's going on," he explained. 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. National Forest Industries Plan:The Australian Governments National Forest Industries Plan. Deforestationthe reduction or complete removal of native forest and bushlandhas escalated over the recent years to reach globally significant levels. 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. 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. In our home state of Queensland. Get 'snapshots of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues. Forest policy in Australia is developed and implemented at the national, state and territory levels. Check out 10 facts about deforestation in Australia In 2015, WWF's Saving Forests at Risk analysis identified 11 global deforestation fronts including eastern Australia. A new report by WWF has found Australia is one of the worlds hotspots for deforestation. The interim report called for an independent regulator that would be responsible for enforcing and monitoring compliance with the law. Deforestation has to stop. 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. The 24 fronts identified in the report are: 10 West Africa Liberia/Ivory Coast/Ghana, 12 Central Africa Gabon/Cameroon/Republic of Congo. Deforestation - National Geographic Society Despite Queensland restoring some restrictions in 2018, eastern Australia remains a deforestation front. In addition to the NFPS and the RFAs, the Australian Government has a number of forest policies to achieve key outcomes for Australias forest and forest industries. Australia is a global deforestation front, alongside Borneo, the Amazon and the Congo. 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. "Those laws were subsequently weakened from about 2012 to 2017 and deforestation rates shot up again," Dr Taylor said. But Dr Taylor from the WWF disputes that. Australias 2019-20 bushfires were too recent to be considered in the analysis which tracked 24 deforestation fronts from 2004 to 2017. 93% of forests and bushland bulldozed were for livestock pasture development, of which 73% was for pastures on beef properties; 78% of all deforestation of endangered regional ecosystems was for pasture development on beef properties; Deforestation for beef accounted for 73% of deforestation of koala habitat, while 83% of brigalow belt clearing was for beef; Deforestation for beef pastures destroyed habitats for 388 nationally threatened species and 14 threatened ecological communities; 60% of the clearing was deforestation of either mature forests or high value regrowth forests (more than 15 years old). Fact check: Is Queensland clearing land as fast as Brazil? Combined with hotter summer extremes this has resulted in the collapse of some species including around 16,000 hectares of northern jarrah forest. 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. This map shows the location of National Plantation Inventory regions in northern Australia: PNG [1.0 MB], PDF [0.7 MB]. We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia. 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. Text available under Creative Commons license. Maps of Australia's forests are available on the Forest maps page. Educating Australians on the benefits of intact ecosystems. The next biggest contributor to the data was "grazing modified pastures" at around 125,000 hectares. 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. Culture is how an organisation thinks, acts, and interacts. Either some of those landholders still haven't cleared that land, or it hasn't been picked up by NGA survey methods. WWF's new report Deforestation fronts: Drivers and responses in a changing world , names 24 locations across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and Oceania. And a bad one. The ANZ-based team aims to address complex problems related to climate change, biodiversity loss, and emissions reduction. Australia has about 3% of the world's forest area, and globally is the country with the seventh largest forest area. Learn more about deforestation in Queensland. 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. And the state leading this destructive charge is Queensland. This map shows the distribution of the Mangrove native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.8 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. (Supplied: Steven Nowakowski Panoscapes)Mr Davies heads up Rainforest 4: one of several conservation groups raising money to try . Additional context has been added to note that Regional Forest Agreements include environmental protections; and a video claiming to show illegal logging has been removed. We recognise First Nations as the custodians of land and water across Australia and pay our respects to Elders past and present. Australia has lost 27% of its rainforest, 19% of open forest, 11% of woodland forest, and 28% of mallee forest since 1750. Through these regions, forests grow on soils that vary from ancient, fragile and infertile soils, to recent, fertile soils of volcanic origin. Australia is a world leader in chopping down trees and wiping out animals: two questionable accomplishments that are tightly connected. 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". Bulldozers drag thick chains through the landscape, snapping trees like matchsticks. About 69% of this forest area is in Queensland and the Northern Territory., We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. Illegal logging - DAFF We have also seen isolated cases of high-value Australian timber being illegally logged. The countries with high rates of deforestation include Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar and Borneo. But currently, none of the big supermarkets and fast food chains can guarantee that the beef they source and sell is free of deforestation. To give life a chance, we need strong, sensible deforestation laws. To satisfy investors, boards need to take succession planning more seriously. About half of Australia's Commercial plantations are exotic softwood (predominantly Pinus radiata), while the other half are hardwood (predominantly eucalypt species). In 2015, WWFs Saving Forests at Risk analysis identified 11 global deforestation fronts including eastern Australia. 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. As well as land clearing, Western Australia's forests are under threat from climate change. 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. This wastes up to 10% of Australias carbon budget. This threatens a tourism industry worth $6 billion to Australia. On the Koala Coast, numbers are down by 80%. 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. Statistics - including rates of forest change and forest extent - can be . Queensland has contributed half of Australia's deforestation since the '70s, primarily to make way for cattle ranching. Subscribe to FS Sustainability to get the latest ESG news and research. Some forests on private land are publicly managed as conservation reserves. Deforestation puts human health and the health of our planet at risk. The only nationally consistent data comes from the Federal Government's National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA). Ecuador was originally largely forested, but . Explore interactive charts and maps that summarize key statistics about forests in {area}. 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 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. They have an ancient historylet's make sure they have a living future. The related common names do not have capitalised initial letters (e.g. This change is needed throughout the whole supply chain, from producers through to retailers, such as supermarkets and fast food restaurants. 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. We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. Site terms Photos and graphics WWF or used with permission. In some regions, forests extend from these wetter, coastal and sub-coastal areas into central, drier parts of the continent. Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species 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. Deforestation and logging in Australia: an assault on wildlife - in Australia is facing a deforestation crisis, with an area equivalent to MCG being destroyed every 86 seconds. Dr Taylor said eastern Australias forests have been declared a global biodiversity hotspot. Regional Forestry Hubs map graphic only PDF [0.6 MB], We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions. The main driver of clearing in New South Wales is agriculture. This map shows the distribution of the Casuarina native forest type across Australia: PNG [1.9 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. But Dr Taylor said ultimately stronger laws are what drive down land clearing. 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. Australian's have a huge appetite for shopping. Mining and building of town infrastructure like roads or commercial buildings are other drivers. Want more science plus health, environment, tech and more? That makes our 1-kilometre wide strip of cleared land almost 7,000 kilometres long, roughly stretching from Perth to Cairns via Brisbane. Thanks! 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. WWF report finds area six times the size of Tasmania has been cleared globally since 2004. Blocks of land are still being sold for development in the Daintree. Deforestation is the purposeful clearing of forested land. 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. This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of land would stretch from Hobart to the southern suburbs or Brisbane. In 2021, it lost 231kha of natural forest, equivalent to 90.8Mt of CO emissions. How Australia became one of the worst deforesters in the world The 24 global deforestation fronts identified in the report accounted for 80 per cent of the world's clearing. 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]. Agriculture was the reason for most of the clearing, with "grazing native vegetation" accounting for more than 1.8 million hectares of clearing. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. "We know that the general public is outraged by this whenever they hear about it. Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB. 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. As the only developed country with a deforestation front, it's no surprise Australias mammal extinction rates are the highest in the world. Operation Artemis: Colombia's failed military operation to stop Koalas live in gum trees, also commonly known as eucalyptus trees. RFAs are 20-year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australias native forests. Data on this page are from Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018 (SOFR), with data up to or as at 2016. Deforestation and Forest Degradation | Threats | WWF We've driven 29 mammals to extinction since European colonisation and more than 1,700 others are threatened or endangered. This includes Australias diverse native forests and plantations, regardless of age. From policymakers to companies to consumers, urgent action is needed to halt forest loss. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. With clearing on this scale, no wonder they were recently declared endangered in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. Leasehold forest is forest on Crown land (land that belongs to a national, state or territory government) that is typically privately managed. 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%. 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. With deforestation comes extinction: Australia is the worst offending country for mammal extinctions. First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we The majority of the 31,800 hectares cleared in the NT was for agriculture. Mangroves on the move. Acacia).. Why so low? 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). 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]. . Wilderness Society | Forests of lutruwita / Tasmania Despite Queensland restoring some restrictions in 2018, eastern Australia remains a deforestation front. The total area of land cleared in Queensland was 2,446,600 hectares. Regional Forestry Hubs boundaries (2022)is the spatial dataset of the boundaries for theRegional Forestry Hubs. 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. For species like the koala, we know the biggest problem is the destruction of their forest homes. This map shows the extent and distribution of Australia's forests by tenure: PNG [0.9 MB], PDF [3.6 MB]. Australia has a well-established institutional framework to support the conservation and sustainable management of forests. 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 following maps of forests in northern Australia were prepared in 2019 by ABARES for an analysis by the CRC for Developing Northern Australia. Meanwhile, Australia continues to be compared with some of the worst offending countries in the world when it comes to land clearing. Over roughly the last 20 years, koalas numbers have declined by almost 50% across Queensland alone. If we want to protect Australia's remarkable biodiversity, including its most iconic animals, we must protect habitat. Of that, around 73,825 ha, or 80%, was bulldozed for beef production. WWF is Australias most trusted conservation organisation. It's primarily driven by agriculture (mostly for beef production), mining and urban development. Opinion. The related formal genus names are italicised and have capitalised initial letters (e.g. Operation Artemis: Colombia's failed military operation to stop deforestation. 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. "Deforestation in Australia took a marked downturn from 2004 to 2009. Around 418,656 hectares of Queenslands forest and bushland was impacted by clearing in 2019-20 alone. , 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. Australia's illegal logging prohibition laws In that case, the data would show no net loss in forest cover, despite a significant deficit of habitat occurring. Forests are generally confined to regions where average rainfall exceeds 500 millimetres per year. (modern). Koalas live in the forests of Australia and therefore are highly affected by deforestation. Sediments and chemicals run off cleared areas into waterways that flow out to the Great Barrier Reefsmothering this already struggling icon. 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. Five reasons investors should adopt an active versus passive ESG approach, Climate change is changing the outlook for energy utilities, Bank Australia sets interim 2030 net zero target, UniSuper updates progress on net zero target, Science-Based Targets an indicator of future climate action: Federated Hermes, Woolworths commits to ambitious GHG emissions cuts, Wilderness Society links deforestation to beef production, supply chain risk, Coca Cola, WWF-Australia, farmers mark 10 years of Project Catalyst, Global Canopy Programme appoints executive director, NCD launches Soft Commodities Forest-risk Assessment Tool, CDP, We Mean Business partner for Road to Paris. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. More than 90 per cent of that land was classified as reclearing, meaning it had been cleared at least once in the previous 30 years. 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]. Tree-clearing | WWF Australia This map shows the distribution of forests in northern Australia, by forest subtype: PNG [1.7 MB], PDF [1.0 MB]. This map shows the distribution of the Melaleuca native forest type across Australia: PNG [2.0 MB], PDF [0.5 MB]. The once abundant koala is rapidly vanishing from New South Wales and Queensland. Carbon capture - real deal or "Hail Mary pass" technology? Boundary maps for the eleven Regional Forestry Hubs are hosted on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website along with information about the Regional Forestry Hubs.. According to the report, expansion of commercial agriculture and tree plantations are the biggest drivers of deforestation around the world. Australia remains the only developed nation on the list of global - WWF In the first analysis, NSW and Queensland were singled out for high rates of clearing, but the new report identifies further areas of concern in Victoria and Tasmania. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands. 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. But how much land are we clearing? But in 2012, a peace deal was struck between loggers and protestors. And around 73,285ha of thator a whopping 80%was destroyed for beef production. The data for the 2018-19 reporting periods, particularly from Queensland and New South Wales, will determine whether that has changed. To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. All rights reserved. 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. It is estimated that up to 10%, or approximately $900 million, of our timber imports could come from high-risk sources 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. Australia's Commercial plantations are a major source of commercial wood products. 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. Everything you need to know about the deforestation crisis taking place across Australia. The beef industry must show leadership and urgently change its practices to stop selling beef linked to deforestation.