Australia is the only developed nation to be listed as a global deforestation hotspot.
Every 2 minutes, Australia destroys an area of forest the size of the MCG. Not only is this destruction of habitat the leading threat to biodiversity extinction in Australia, it is also a major source of greenhouse emissions.
The Issues
Native Forest Logging - It's hard to believe that in 2024 Australia still logs our remaining native forests. No matter how well managed, a logged forest will always have inferior biodiversity and carbon values. Logging is a key threatening process for over 50 threatened species, pushing species like the Koala, Greater Glider and Swift Parrot closer to extinction. Sadly, most of the timber from native forests ends up in low-value products like woodchips and firewood.
Habitat Clearing: Australia clears an extraordinary amount of land every year, mostly for livestock pasture, particularly beef. Since 2000, Australia has cleared over 7.7 million hectares of threatened species habitat - more than the total area of Tasmania. This clearing has a massive carbon impact - accounting for about 10% of our national emissions. Markets for Australian agricultural products, notably the EU, are starting to penalise imports of products made from deforestation, strengthening the case for reform.
Learn more the issue >
Take Action for our Forests
Federal Labor committed at the 2023 National Conference to deliver a new National Forests Policy before the next election. Over a year later and we haven’t seen much concrete progress. Our forests and endangered species can’t wait.
What can you do? Send a brief email to the Forestry Minister, Julie Collins MP urging her to prioritise this work and cc in your local Labor MP.
We’ve made a template email available here. The Minister's email is: [email protected]
What LEAN is doing
LEAN is advocating for a nationally coordinated approach to protecting Australia’s remaining forests and restoring them at scale. But first we need to stop the destruction by: phasing out native forest logging + moving to 100% plantation timber, and strengthening environment laws to end broadscale land clearing.
The issue of forests and clearing was the key campaign we took to the 2023 Labor National Conference. We secured commitments for a new National Forest Policy Statement before the next election and platform commitments to “halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by 2030”.
Plantation Timber: Over 88% of our forest products already come from plantations, we can move to 100% plantations and create regional job growth by expanding plantations and focusing the industry on high-value products as well as new value-adding manufacturing opportunities.
A 'Land clearing trigger' in new environment laws: We need strong regulations to end broadscale habitat clearing, at both state and federal levels. A land clearing trigger to regulate proposals to clear substantial areas of native vegetation, vegetation in sensitive areas or of high conservation value should be introduced to ensure that land clearing that does not otherwise trigger the EPBC is regulated.
A plan to restore and regenerate the landscape: There are 52 million hectares of severely degraded land in Australia that costs the nation $224 billion annually in lost ecosystem services and production capacity. We need a national plan to prioritise investment in the highest carbon and biodiversity landscapes for restoration. Alongside public investment, we need new incentives to reward landholders that maintain and restore ecosystems.