Queensland's new land-clearing laws are a huge missed opportunity.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on land clearing
Displaying 1 - 20 of 32 articles
Across large ares of Australia, rocky outcrops are being obliterated to open up more land for farming. But many of these "bush rocks" are refuges for fragile ecosystems.
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.
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.
The failed attempt to reinstate land clearing regulations in Queensland has prompted 'panic clearing', pushing Australia into the global top-ten deforesters.
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.
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.
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.
Legal vegetation 'thinning' is contributing to high rates of land clearing, potentially causing problems for threatened species and ecosystems.
You'd hope we wouldn't flatten the pyramids to build a highway. But that's exactly what's happening to the world's natural heritage sites.
Since 1992, an area of land two-thirds the size of Australia has been converted to human use.
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.
Here's another reason to stop land clearing: it's making Australia hotter and drier.
Climate change gets a lot of the spotlight when it comes to saving wildlife. But bigger threats remain.
Moves to tighten land-clearing laws in Queensland and New South Wales have been met with outrage from farmers. So how can we get regulation right?
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.
Back and forth over land-clearing laws has left landowners confused and native forests vulnerable.
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.
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.
Top contributors
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland
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Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Environmental Policy, The University of Queensland
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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Landscape Ecologist, The University of Queensland
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Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of Queensland
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Researcher, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland
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Professor and Program Leader, Conservation Planning, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
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Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
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Professor, RMIT University
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PhD candidate, The University of Queensland
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Professor in ecology and environment, Griffith University
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Associate Professor, The University of Queensland
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PhD candidate, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland
