Land & biodiversity
The health of Australia’s environment is poor and deteriorating. Pressures from habitat destruction, invasive species, industry and development are amplifying one another and being compounded by climate change. We need robust laws and urgent action to protect and restore nature.
EPBC Act reforms
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is Australia’s key national environmental law, regulating activities that are likely to have a significant impact on key environmental values, including threatened species and communities, heritage areas, Ramsar wetlands, migratory species and water resources.
The 20-year review of the EPBC Act (the Samuel Review) found that the law is not fit for purpose – almost all biodiversity indictors have gone backwards since the Act was introduced. The government has committed to broad scale reforms to better protect Australia’s environment.
Nature positive outcomes
The Australian government has released its Nature Positive Plan and signed on to the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework nature positive goals and 30% by 2030 targets for reservation of land and water. Much more is needed to achieve the stated aims of a nature positive approach to biodiversity management.
Forest conservation & vegetation clearing
Forests are critical to biodiversity, erosion prevention, soil conservation, water filtration, and the carbon cycle. Across Australia, forests are at risk of destruction from commercial logging, clearing for urban and industrial expansion, tourism and fuel reduction burns. Calls for robust vegetation clearance laws and an end to native forest logging are intensifying as forest resources are depleted.
Background resources
- State of the Environment Report
- Samuel Review of the EPBC Act
- DCCEEW EPBC Reform page
- 10 Essential Elements of National Environmental Law Reforms (Biodiversity Council)
- Urgency and ambition more important than ever for national nature law reform (EDO)
- A new pathway for the renewable energy transition: national environment laws that deliver for nature, climate and communities (EDO)
- Preventing ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ (Wentworth Group paper on cumulative impacts)
- Legal opinion – Gaps in the EPBC Act and other federal laws for protection of the climate (Prof Jacqueline Peel, for Climate Council)
- Net Zero Futures Policy Forum – NBS Compendium.pdf (theclimategroup.org)
- Comprehensive overview of Vegetation Management laws across Australian jurisdictions (EDO)
- Cop26 – Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use
- Branching Out: Exploring Alternate Land Use Options for the Native Forests of NSW (Blueprint)
- Ending native forest logging without market mechanisms (The Australia Institute)
- Public native forest logging: a large and growing taxpayer burden (Frontier Economics)
- Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists’ submission on the Nature Repair Market Bill
- Coal Mine Approval Tracker
- Creating a nature positive advantage: Assessing the outlook for Australia in a Nature Positive World (EY)
- Gone: Australian Animals Lost since the 1960s (Invasive Species Council)
- An analysis of the economic, social & environmental cost of feral deer in Victoria (Invasive Species Council)
- Priority actions to meet Australia’s commitments to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (ACIUCN)