ALARMING LAND CLEARING FIGURES SHOW WHY NSW NEEDS STRONGER LAWS NOW

New figures reveal that land clearing in NSW is continuing at an alarming pace, threatening the survival of koalas, greater gliders and other endangered species.

The NSW Government’s just-released Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) shows more than 420,000 hectares of native vegetation were cleared between 2018 and 2022.

More than 45,000 hectares of native vegetation were cleared in 2022, including 21,131 hectares of woody vegetation (trees and shrubs) and 24,121 hectares of non-woody vegetation (grasslands, ferns, and ground cover).

This represents an area more than 160 times the size of the Sydney CBD in 2022 alone.

"NSW has a massive land clearing problem that Premier Minns needs to fix,” said Dr Stuart Blanch, WWF-Australia’s forest policy manager.

"Labor went to the March 2023 election promising to stop excessive land clearing, but the government will not strengthen the state's weak land clearing laws until 2026.

“We cannot afford to wait another two years and allow destruction on this scale to continue.

“Bulldozing forests kills trees and threatened wildlife such as koalas and releases carbon pollution that makes climate change worse.”

WWF-Australia’s first national Trees Scorecard ranked NSW last among states and territories for protecting and restoring trees.

“We’re seeing modest reductions in the total area of land clearing, but NSW and Queensland continue to drag the nation down,” said Dr Blanch.

“The Minns Government needs to bring forward its plans to reform the weak native vegetation laws inherited from the Coalition.

“Australia committed to end deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 and reverse forest loss at COP28.

“Every year that NSW fails to rapidly drive down land clearing makes achieving this goal harder.

“NSW had stronger native vegetation laws two decades ago when Premier Bob Carr made land clearing a top priority for his government.

"The NSW Government needs to pass strong laws now and provide environmental stewardship funds to landholders to make NSW a leader in protecting and restoring forests.”