Vegetation ‘thinning’ in Queensland - a practice that was originally designed to restore forests and woodlands to a ‘representative state’.
WWF-Australia
Queensland’s new draft land-clearing laws aim to put the brakes on years of environmental destruction. But the bill contains several loopholes that are likely to stymie progress.
Land clearing, as seen here in a property near St George, Queensland, does not trigger Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act.
AAP
Australia’s federal environment laws are inadequate to halt Australia’s alarming rates of land clearing and species loss. A more robust set of laws are urgently needed.
A chain used for land clearing is dragged over a pile of burning wood on a drought effected property near St George, Queensland.
AP Image/Dan Peled
The failed attempt to reinstate land clearing regulations in Queensland has prompted ‘panic clearing’, pushing Australia into the global top-ten deforesters.
Land clearing is once again on the rise in Queensland.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
The outgoing Threatened Species Commissioner has downplayed the importance of land clearing as a threat to Australia’s plants and animals. But it’s the biggest threat, and magnifies the others too.
The complete ban on burning peatlands, while effective in reducing forest and land fires, may in the long run harm the local agriculture industry.
Reuters/Beawiharta
Dede Rohadi, Centre for International Forestry Research
Zero-burning policy could hurt small-holder farmers. The ban on the use of fire for land clearing has raised the costs to prepare their land for planting and to keep it pest-free.
This quenda seems to have been a victim of land clearing.
Colin Leonhardt/Birdseyeviewphotography.com.au
More than 50 million birds, mammals and reptiles are thought to be killed each year in New South Wales and Queensland by the removal of native vegetation, and planning laws are failing to protect them.
A ‘thinned’ landscape, which provides far from ideal habitat for many species.
Australia’s Great Northern Savannas are the largest and most intact ecosystem of their kind on Earth. But they still face pressure from grazing, mining and agricultural expansion.
Increasing land clearing could leave Australia hotter and drier.
Wilderness Society
The Banksia woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain are home to thousands of species, many unique. But they are gradually being swallowed by Perth, one of the world’s most sprawling cities.
Victoria’s volcanic plains offer fertile ground for grasslands teeming with wildflowers. But that same fertility has also made the plains a tempting target for grazers and growers, and developers too.
Clearing in Queensland.
Kerry Trapnell/The Wilderness Society
Science was instrumental in working out how to clear brigalow forest to make way for farming in the 20th century. Now it’s trying to bring these iconic forests back.
Sumatra’s tigers are among the species that will benefit from a new land-clearing moratorium in Leuser’s forests.
dangdumrong/Shutterstock
The Leuser ecosystem in northern Sumatra is home to some of the world’s rarest and best-loved animals. Thanks to a new government moratorium on land clearing, conservationists have enjoyed a big win.
Despite increases in some areas, Australia’s tree cover is at its lowest level in 40 years.
Tree image from David Lade www.shutterstock.com
After some unusually wet years, our landscape and ecosystems have once again returned to poorer conditions that were last experienced during the Millennium Drought.
Farming land in New South Wales.
from www.shutterstock.com
Growing population, growing demand for food, climate change: Australia’s rural lands are facing a number of pressures. So how can we sustainably use them in the future?