Australia has national environment laws – the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). Yet given the staggering rates of land clearing taking place, resulting in the extinction and endangerment of plants and animals in Australia, these laws are clearly not working.
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| Land clearing, as seen here in a property near St George, Queensland, does not trigger Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act. |
About 395,000 hectares of regrowth and old growth vegetation were cleared during 2015-16 in Queensland. Australia is set to clear up to 3 million hectares of native forest by 2030, and more than 1,800 plant and animal species are currently listed as threatened nationally.
When the EPBC Act was first implemented in 1999, the idea was for it to provide reinforced federal environmental protection to areas of national environmental significance. But in reality, many projects that come within the ambit of the Act are not rigorously evaluated for their environmental impact.
Read the piece on The Conversation by the Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law at Deakin Law School from Deakin University, Samatha Hepburn - “Why aren’t Australia’s environment laws preventing widespread land clearing.”
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