Queensland continues to record the highest rate of land clearing in the country, with more than 400,000 hectares destroyed in 2019-20, according to new government data.
The Queensland government’s annual statewide landcover and tree study shows 418,656 hectares was cleared, a 38% decline from 680,688 hectares the previous year but still the equivalent of about 567 Melbourne Cricket Grounds a day.
WWF-Australia said continued clearing in Great Barrier Reef catchments – 182,904 hectares – was concerning because of its potential to worsen erosion and increase the amount of sediment flowing on to coral and seagrass.
Last month, Unesco’s reef monitoring report concluded the world’s biggest coral reef system should be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger.
It found progress to stop pollution running into the reef’s waters from farming and grazing was too slow and recommended stronger laws to protect remnant vegetation in reef catchments.
More than 50% – 216,335 hectares – of the total clearing in Queensland was of vegetation older than 15 years.
More mature trees provide important habitat for many animals and are a major carbon store.
Two forest-dependent species – the koala and the greater glider – had their national listing upgraded to endangered this year.
“The data shows that clearing is not just immature regrowth. There is a deforestation issue in Queensland, and now is the time to work together to address it,” said Vanessa Keogh, a project manager at WWF-Australia.
The organisation wants tougher regulation, including the closing of loopholes that mean tens of thousands of hectares of clearing on some types of land are exempt from regulation.
It also called for more transparent data and improved incentives to support livestock producers to become deforestation-free and zero carbon.
Hannah Schuch, Queensland campaign manager at the Wilderness Society, said the state government’s data remained years behind, meaning it was difficult to assess how effective changes to vegetation laws in 2018 had been in reducing clearing.
Schuch said analysis of data from previous years showed almost three-quarters of clearing in Queensland was likely to be for beef production.
With demand for deforestation-free beef growing, she said corporations “have a social and financial responsibility to remove deforestation from their supply chains”.
State and federal governments also needed to strengthen environment laws to stop the clearing of threatened species habitat, she said.
The Queensland government said the drop in clearing showed its “responsible vegetation management laws provide greater protection to remnant and high value regrowth vegetation” but it would keep working with industries to reduce clearing further.
“We know there’s more to do to reduce clearing, which is why our government established the $500m Land Restoration Fund, and Queensland is now the nation’s leading jurisdiction in carbon farming,” the environment minister Megan Scanlon said.
