Almost 700,000 hectares of native bushland was cleared in Queensland in the four years after new vegetation laws were introduced, sparking calls for loopholes to be closed.
Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager Dr Lissa Schindler said a new report has found 684,000ha was cleared up to 2022, after the Queensland Government strengthened its vegetation laws in 2018.
Dr Schindler said more than 80 percent of the destruction occurred on land exempt from those laws.
“Australia is a deforestation hotspot and Queensland the epicentre – almost half of tree clearing happens in Great Barrier Reef catchments,” she said.
Dr Schindler said hundreds of thousands of trees were being cleared every year, including in highly sensitive areas prone to erosion such as along creeks, rivers and degraded land.
“Most concerning is that around three million hectares of native vegetation could still be legally cleared if loopholes in laws designed to stop deforestation are not removed.”
She said tree clearing caused soil erosion and worsened water pollution.
“Sediment can smother corals and seagrasses that marine life such as threatened dugongs depend upon.
“Both the Queensland and federal governments are investing a lot of money in reducing sediment runoff, so it doesn’t make sense to allow this level of clearing to continue.”
Dr Schindler said the World Heritage Committee had repeatedly called on Australia to curb land clearing to protect the Great Barrier Reef, yet little had changed.
“If Australia wants to keep the Reef off the World Heritage in Danger list, then the government must act and close the loopholes that are driving deforestation.”
