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Every year, land clearing encroaches further and further into Australia’s natural habitats.
The large-scale destruction of native woodlands, forests, wetlands and grasslands is widely considered the biggest threat to biodiversity in the country – jeopardizing species health and our own livelihoods and wellbeing.
The 2021 State of the Environment Report (1) painted a dire picture: between 7.7 million hectares of land for terrestrial threatened species was cleared or degraded between 2000 and 2017. That same year, a WWF report (2) revealed Australia is still one of the only developed nations on the list of global deforestation hotspots – for the Brigalow Belt Region in Eastern Australia.
The bush is calling to us to protect it – we are listening. National and global targets to protect 30% of land by 2030 will require a collective response.
In Australia that means broadening our national reserve system, of which private protected areas are crucial. That’s why we are deepening our impact and doubling the land we own by 2030.
Land clearing impacts the health of rivers and coastal ecosystems. It increases the runoff of sediment, nutrients and other pollutants into coastal waters. This causes damage to coral reefs, such as the Great Barrier Reef, and other marine ecosystems, such as seagrass beds.
When we remove vegetation along rivers and streams it can also exacerbate the impacts of flooding – one of the most costly natural disasters in the country. It can cause the water to flow faster downstream and contribute to lowland erosion. But there are many people working to protect our waterways, such as our partner the Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach, which is restoring more than 300km of the Upper Murrumbidgee River, including at our Scottsdale Reserve.
Since colonisation began, about 50% of Australia’s rainforests have been removed and the proportion of the continent covered by forest or woodlands has reduced by more than a third, leading to the direct loss of millions of native animals and plants each year.
At least 500,000 hectares of land are cleared each year in Australia and for every 100 hectares of woodlands cleared some 2,000 birds, 15,000 reptiles and 500 mammals are lost. (3) This occurs when they’re harmed during land clearance operations, lose their shelter and access to food, or are exposed to the elements and feral predators.
We have lost more mammals than any other country in the world, and another 20 species are at risk of extinction in the next 20 years.
An extra ~5% of bird populations have been added to the threatened species list in recent years, and an additional 21-22% invertebrate and frog species. (4) These species face many threats, but land clearing and subsequent decline in the health of isolated remnant habitat is high among them.
Buying land is one of our best safeguards from habitat loss. We put conservation covenants on all the land we acquire and undertake high-integrity restoration projects in cleared areas.
People tend to be most aware of and concerned about animal species. But our flora is equally unique and threatened. There are over 23,800 plant species in Australia, of which 86% are endemic (found nowhere else) and more plant than animal species are listed as threatened. As of July 2024, over 1,400 plant species (5) were listed under the EPBC Act. Many of these plants are significant to Traditional Custodians and are used for medicines, bush foods and to make fibres, tools and utensils. When we protect plant species, we protect biodiversity and culture.
Land is integral to the climate cycle. It emits greenhouse gases and absorbs them.
According to a 2019 Special IPCC report,(6) forestry, land clearing and agriculture contribute to about 23% of global human-induced carbon emissions globally. Ecosystems – such as forests, seagrass and wetlands – and processes that store carbon in soil and plants absorb the equivalent of 22% of greenhouse gases. In Australia, the carbon absorbed from the land sector is not enough to balance the carbon emissions from coal, oil, gas and cement.(7)
The removal of vegetation can increase summer surface temperatures, causing rainfall to decrease and exacerbating droughts. Critically, it degrades soil health. Soil stores three times more carbon(7) than the atmosphere and terrestrial vegetation, but in Australia we have the third highest amount of soil carbon loss in the world, largely due to land-use change. While revegetation projects make significant strides in reversing ecological decline, it can take decades for them to reach the same level of carbon sequestration as old, mature forests. Preventing deforestation and land clearing is our best defense.
When rain falls on the bush in drier regions, much of it is captured by the roots of plants and breathed back into the atmosphere. After the bush is cleared, the water continues down through the earth and adds to groundwater. The water table can then rise bringing salt to the surface, causing salinisation, which makes land useless for farming and destroys habitat for species. This process is causing a salinity crisis across vast areas of farmland, bushland and waterways.
Bush Heritage originally came into being as a practical vehicle to prevent land clearing. Two forest blocks near Bob Brown’s house in Liffey Valley, Tasmania, were to be sold for wood chipping. He simply bought the blocks himself and created Bush Heritage as a practical way for everyday Australians to contribute.
Today tens of thousands of Australians support us to buy and manage land of high conservation value, and also partners with Aboriginal people, to conserve our magnificent landscapes and our irreplaceable native species forever.
We rely on the generosity of everyday Australians. Donations over $2 are tax-deductible and we can’t thank our supporters enough.
