Two states responsible for Australia's 'embarrassing' 482,616 hectare problem
Greenpeace and the RSPCA are calling for urgent reform as around 100 million animals are displaced, killed or harmed every year due to deforestation.
Two Aussie states are in the spotlight for fuelling the nation’s "embarrassing" record on deforestation. And the problem is killing, maiming and displacing an estimated 100 million native animals a year.
This staggering number has shocked the authors of a new joint report by RSPCA and Greenpeace because it’s double previous estimates. Prior to its release Australia was already the only developed nation included on World Wide Fund for Nature's list of deforestation hotspots.
“This report really highlights the urgency of the deforestation crisis. We’re already number one for mammal extinctions in the world, so unless we want to see more, we need action now,” Greenpeace’s Gemma Plesman told Yahoo News.
The new Ongoing animal welfare crisis from deforestation in Australia report follows the release of data by the NSW Government in May which concluded half of the state’s threatened species are expected to be wiped out in a century. A previous NSW parliamentary inquiry found its koalas will be extinct in the wild by 2050.
Despite koalas being listed as endangered in 2022, it’s believed 1,200 Koalas a year on average are being impacted by land clearing. But the majority of those affected were reptiles at 96 million, followed by 1.9 to 4.5 million mammals and 7.4 to 93 million birds.
Is NSW or Queensland responsible for more destruction?
In Queensland, the RSPCA doesn’t just protect domestic animals, it also takes responsibility for investigating wildlife crime and in some cases treating injured animals.
As a welfare organisation, it’s speaking out about deforestation, because it believes it creates problems for the animals.
“We need to get to the root cause of the issue. The work that we do is important but largely symptomatic of an underlying problem. I think what we need to do is protect the habitat that we have,” RSPCA Queensland wildlife veterinary director Tim Portas told Yahoo News.
RSPCA Queensland treats around 24,000 native animals a year. Of these around 700 are koalas, and a significant portion of them are hit by cars or attacked by dogs.
“That’s an indirect result of them living isolated in patchy habitat, and having to cross roads or ending up in backyards in suburban areas where they’re attacked,” Portas said.
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The report concludes that 482,616 hectares of forest and woodland, an area roughly the size of greater Sydney, is either cleared or bulldozed every year. At 386,184 hectares Queensland wiped out the majority.
Surprisingly, most of the deforestation was for pasture creation by the livestock sector in central and south central Queensland. Housing development, mining and infrastructure were just 1 per cent of the total land cleared.
Both RSPCA and Greenpeace say the results indicate Australia's nature protection laws are failing and must be strengthened.
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