{"id":128180,"date":"2025-08-08T04:48:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128180\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:48:20","slug":"queensland-land-clearing-figures-show-state-remains-deforestation-capital-of-australia-conservationists-say-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128180\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland land-clearing figures show state remains \u2018deforestation capital of Australia\u2019, conservationists say | Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forest and woodland across an area more than 1,000 times the size of the Sydney CBD was bulldozed in Queensland<\/a> in 2022-23, newly published figures show, sparking warnings the state is escalating risks to endangered species and worsening climate change.<\/p>\n

Almost half (44%) of the 332,015 hectares of clearing was in Great Barrier Reef catchment areas, causing nutrient and sediment flow that puts additional pressure on corals already bleaching<\/a> due to climate change.<\/p>\n

The state government land-clearing data for 2022-23<\/a>, published this week, shows overall clearing was up 3% on the previous year.<\/p>\n

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Of the clearing, 21% (70,799 hectares) was remnant woodland, meaning it had not been cleared before or that it resembled uncleared forest, an increase of 8%. Remnant vegetation is important for biodiversity and supports endangered species such as the koala and greater glider.<\/p>\n

Queensland land clearing by region in hectares<\/a><\/p>\n

Dave Copeman, the director of the Queensland Conservation<\/a> Council, the state\u2019s peak conservation body, said the figures were \u201cshocking\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueenslanders and international visitors alike would be distressed to learn that the Queensland government is allowing forests and woodlands to be bulldozed in the Great Barrier Reef catchment at an alarming rate, with over 140,000 hectares being cleared per year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is devastating additional pressure on an already damaged Great Barrier Reef struggling to survive from repeated mass bleaching events. This clearing must stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Australian Conservation Foundation\u2019s Nathaniel Pelle said the figures showed Queensland \u201cremains the deforestation capital of Australia\u201d and the government needed to tighten regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sadly no longer surprising to see big numbers coming out of Queensland when it comes to deforestation but what is most alarming is the jump in destruction of remnant forests and woodland, which is catastrophic for Queensland\u2019s wildlife and proves the state\u2019s vegetation management is not working,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

About 86% of the clearing (283,918ha) was for the expansion of pasture and 77% (254,647ha) was category X clearing, which means it did not require a permit under the state\u2019s vegetation management laws. The Brigalow and Mulga Lands regions were clearing hotspots.<\/p>\n

The figures show that 33,000 hectares<\/a> of woodland and forest bulldozed was unexplained, which can include potentially unlawful clearing.<\/p>\n

According to the report, less than 1% (3,040ha) of the total area bulldozed was in places containing endangered ecosystems, but this was 21% more than the previous year, which Copeman said was \u201cdistressing\u201d.<\/p>\n

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He said much of the pastoral clearing was also not being assessed for its environmental impact under Australia\u2019s nature laws and the council was calling on the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, to address this in upcoming reforms.<\/p>\n

Hannah Schuch, the Queensland campaigns manager at the Wilderness Society, said the state was the centre of Australia\u2019s land-clearing crisis and conversion of land for pasture was the main driver of the destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t just stats. Bulldozing forests and bushland across the sunshine state kills species like the koala, red goshawk<\/a> and greater glider<\/a>, smothers the Great Barrier Reef with chemical and sediment pollution and worsens climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cForests and bushland in Queensland are quite literally the lungs of our state yet government and corporate inaction continues to deal them this destructive hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Release of the Queensland data follows the publication of New South Wales figures last week which revealed a 40% surge in land clearing<\/a> across the state.<\/p>\n

Comment has been sought from the Queensland government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forest and woodland across an area more than 1,000 times the size of the Sydney CBD was bulldozed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":128181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-128180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114991340174682269","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}