What’s at stake: Australia is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, with iconic species like the Greater Glider and the koala facing extensive loss of habitat. Deforestation is the main driver, with a football-field-sized area of forest and bushland destroyed across the country every two minutes. Most of this is happening in Queensland, with NSW, WA and the NT also seeing alarming increases.
What we’re up against: Deforestation was something of an unspoken crisis in Australia. In 2017, research demonstrated that there were very low levels of awareness surrounding the issue, and so our first order of action was to blow the lid off deforestation with a public campaign to increase awareness of the issue in Queensland and beyond. Now it’s time to tackle the biggest driver of deforestation: beef production.
What we’re doing: In May 2018, the Queensland Parliament passed historic new deforestation laws. It wasn’t an easy road. The LNP, backed by industry lobbyists and other opponents of reform, tried to stop the laws being passed. But thanks to everyday Australians standing up for Queensland’s wildlife, rivers, forests and climate, the laws succeeded. The fight is not over. While the new laws represent good progress, loopholes remain that could allow the bulldozing of forests and bushland to continue. Together, we will keep a close watch on the forests to see whether the laws prove effective at preventing destructive practices. And, we will keep pushing for loopholes in the laws to be closed, safeguarding our forests for generations to come.
We’ve also been working to identify the industries driving deforestation so we can focus our campaigns to pressure them to employ forest-friendly practices. To achieve this we employed a spatial mapping expert to analyse the underlying drivers of the problem in Queensland, where most of the country’s deforestation is taking place. We found that the beef industry is linked to 73% of all deforestation and land clearing in the state. The data also exposed how much habitat, critical to threatened species like the koala, is being cleared under our woefully inadequate federal environment laws. It’s the first time anyone in Australia has done this kind of mapping and it lays the groundwork for the next phase of our campaign we’ve been developing that focuses on eliminating deforestation from the beef supply chain.