Consequences of Deforestation in Australia

This article discusses the consequences of deforestation in Australia, including its impact on climate, wildlife, and the economy. It also highlights the importance of tree planting and policy instruments used to prevent deforestation. The article provides insights into the current state of deforestation in Australia and the challenges faced in implementing forest conservation policies.

Running head: Research design and Planning 7161ENV 1
Consequences of Deforestation in Australia
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Effects of Deforestation in Climate and Wildlife............................................................................4
Loss of wildlife species...............................................................................................................5
Soil erosion and damage..............................................................................................................5
Global warming and greenhouse gas emission............................................................................6
Reduction in Economy................................................................................................................6
Importance of Trees Planting in the reduction of effects of deforestation in Australia..................6
Policy instruments Already used in Australia to Prevent Deforestation.........................................8
Gaps and Challenges of Policies Implementation...........................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11
Table of tables
Table 1 Australia forest change cover in both percentage and in hectares between the year
1990 to 2005 ...................................................................................................................................4
Table 2 Importance’s of Tree Planting .......................................................................................7

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Introduction
Deforestation is one of the major leading human dependent factors that affect the world
climate and Australia is not exceptional. Forests are major climatic benefits such as the creation
of free oxygen, prevention of soil erosion, providing beautiful scenarios for the nation, and
providing habitats for both mammals and reptiles(Bradshaw, 2012). Chopping down the trees
without a plan and for the purpose of self, political and other commercial benefits will definitely
lead to major environmental consequences. Forests in Australia have changed a lot over the past
three to four decades(Evans, 2016). Australia has become number five country with the highest
rates of deforestation across the globe even more than third world countries like Zimbabwe,
Nigeria, Mexico and Congo. According to the department of environment, Australia usually
loose around 325, 900 hectares of forest annually (Cool Australia, 2019). This has led to a loss of
25% rainforest 30% malee forest, 32 woodlands forest and 45% open forests in just last two
centuries. This is over half a million hectares that are cleared in each yea (Cool Australia, 2019)r.
Due to these facts, most precious animals in the country are threatened which include a
sooty owl, tiger qual, long footed potolo, spotted tree frog, regent honeyeater and the yellow-
billed glider. The facts show that, in every tree planted in Australia, around 8 of them are cut.
Over 85% of deforestation in the country usually occurs in Queensland(Evans, 2016). However,
relating to the national total land area, Tasmania has the highest tree cutting rates whereas
Victoria has the highest rates of native vegetation. In order to combat deforestation in the
country, various strategies like tree planting need to be put into place together with policies that
discourage deforestation. Below is a table that show how the forest cover changed in the year
1990 , 2000, and 2005 due to deforestation

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Table 1 Australia forest change cover in both percentage and in hectares between the year 1990
to 2005
Years Forest in ha Annual change in
percentage between the
periods
1990 167,904, 2000 -0.19%
2000 167, 245,000 -0.12%
2005 163, 678,000 -2.52
(Cool Australia, 2019)
Effects of Deforestation in Climate and Wildlife
The basic cause of cutting down of trees worldwide is the demand for land for
agriculture. However, other causes come along with agriculture which includes infrastructure,
mining and some for reckless destruction. In Australia, most deforestation is undertaken to
provide areas and create pastures for livestock(Buizer, Humphreys, & De Jong, 2014). This
process was slowed between the early 1990s and the year 2000 due to legislation in Queensland
and New South Wales but recent changes in policies have made it easier for people to cut down
trees ( Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, 2015 ). Deforestation can also be led by
natural changes such as drought and disastrous forest fires. However, deforestation with no or
minimal reforestation has vast of both wildlife and climatic impacts (McElvaney, 2019).
According to Wild Wide Fund Australia, the effects of trees cutting include soil erosion, global
warming, loss of plants and animal species, drought and reduction in rainfall, and loss of
beautiful sceneries (Cool Australia, 2019 ). The following are some of the consequences of
deforestation that have occurred or will probably happen in Australia if something is not done;

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Loss of wildlife species
Tree clearing and deforestation is one of the primary causes of habitat loss for many
endangered and threatened plant and animal species. For instance, species like tigers, rhinos,
orangutan, and elephants are almost extinct in Asia due to deforestation. To such species, one of
the other secondary effects of deforestation is that it brings them closer to greedy humans
making them at risk of persecution and poaching (McElvaney, 2019). In Australia, there are
about 390 terrestrial animals and 1,250 plants that have been listed as threaten and 286 and 964
animals and plants consecutively that have already been threatened due to deforestation (Cool
Australia, 2019). According to Wild Wide Fund, some like Carnaby Cockatoo, Bennet's trees
Kangaroo, black-franked rock wallaby, and Cape York rock wallaby have already be listed as
almost extinct in New South Wales and Queensland. With the extent of such valuable species,
the country is at risk of having poor both external and internal tourism which will lead to a major
economic impact on the whole nation (Cool Australia, 2019).
Soil erosion and damage
Tree cutting and reckless clearing have an impact on the quality of soil and water. By
cutting down of trees that archer soils, soil can be washed away by heavy rains in rivers which
end up damaging all the waterways(Reside et al., 2017). In addition, soil fertility usually declines
with deforestation. The major components that are normally lost include organic sulfur, carbon,
phosphorus, and nitrogen. The biomass in soil is also reduced above and below the ground (Cool
Australia, 2019). This furthermore increases soil heat up, fast drying and thus increasing
decomposition of nutrients that are needed for plants to grow. Finally, clearing of forests spoils

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soil salinity. Around 7% of Western Australia has an increased salinity due to deforestation thus
affecting agriculture.
Global warming and greenhouse gas emission
Cutting of trees accounts for 15% of total global warming emissions, increasing in
temperatures, and changes in weather patterns (Cool Australia, 2019). Australia’s greenhouse
gas emissions from deforestation can go beyond control(Buizer et al., 2014). In Vitoria,
Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, tree clearing
policies have already been weakened allowing further deforestation. Scientist projects that,
emission from trees clearing only cant reach up to 826 Mt CO2e in 20130 if there will be no
policy change (Cool Australia, 2019).
Reduction in Economy
Other than climatic and wildlife effects, deforestation leads to decrease in the country's
economy and destroy human survival securities. Millions of people in Australia depend on the
forest for hunting, gathering medicine, clean water, reproductive soils, stable tourism, and
recreation, habitat for crop pollinators and pest predators and stable climates with the pure and
clean gaseous exchange (Department of health and Water Resources 2015).
Importance of Trees Planting in the reduction of effects of
deforestation in Australia
According to Wild Wide Fund –Australia, the government of Australia recognize the
importance of forest in promoting sustainable food productions, the creation of jobs through
tourism, maintenance of air that have low carbon gases and preservation of threatened species
(McElvaney, 2019). Therefore the government is working specifically with high affected areas

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such as New South Wales and Queensland to promote tree planting and prevent reckless tree
clearing(Cunningham et al., 2015). According to the Trillion Tree Campaign, planting of more
trees could be the answer the whole world is concerned about the carbon dioxide emission and
environmental pollution. Currently, the world can hold about three trillion trees of which more
than 13.6 billion have been planted as part of a united nation trillion tree campaign(Pincetl,
Gillespie, Pataki, Saatchi, & Saphores, 2013). There is actually free space on earth to plant about
600 billion trees without affecting the agricultural land and thus since some plants cannot survive
without agriculture, there is a need to add some in agricultural areas.
Planting trees have vast benefits, unlike deforestation. The following table shows some of
the importance of planting trees;
Table 2 Importance’s of Tree Planting
Numbers Importance’s References
1 There is real economic value in the shades provided by trees
that usually drop the temperature by around eight degrees
Celsius. They can reduce the cost of using devices such as air
conditioners thus reducing the effects of electricity in polluting
our environment.
(Akbari, 2002) and
(McElvaney,
2019).
2. Over the past few years, Victoria has been having vast strong
wind speed storms. Trees can help to control adverse weather
changes by blocking strong winds and rains. Planting trees in
urban areas have also proved to be of great importance in
removing the atmospheric pollutants
(Pandit, Polyakov,
Tapsuwan, &
Moran, 2013).
3. The city's vegetation in 1994 provided a reduction of ten billion (Akbari, 2002).

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in New York City. This can be beneficial in Australia if all
cities have adequate trees and vegetation
4. Trees hold the soil together reducing the rates of soil erosion,
increasing soil fertility and thus providing good environments
for agriculture.
(McElvaney, 2019)
Policy instruments Already used in Australia to Prevent
Deforestation
The Australian forest policies are being governed by various legislations which are
commonly under the Australian Forest Policy. These include the 1992 National Forest Policy
Statement, Regional Forest Agreement, Illegal Logging and prohibition Act 2012 and Plantation
for Australia 2020 vision (Department of health and Water Resources 2018). All these policies
have been put in place to support Sustainable Forest Management. The sustainable Forest
Management provides a full range of social, environmental and economic values of forests
conservation (Department of health and Water Resources 2018). The national policy framework
provides only divisions that deal with conservation and sustainable management of the forest by
providing an agreement with regions which allow them to balance between cutting down of trees
and planting of new ones.
In the Rio Earth Summit of 19992, Australia developed various national and regional
initiatives they were launched to improve the understanding of required measures that can be
used to implement Safe Forest Management (McElvaney, 2019). The Montreal Process Createlia
and Indicators was used at the national level to develop policies for monitoring and controlling
forest management (Department of health and Water Resources 2018). Due to the fact that all

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regions of Australia are different, the application and importance of each policy differ by region
(Department of health and Water Resources 2018). Therefore, the national government provided
a framework with 44 indicators that can be used to cover all regions. To measure the proportion
of reserved areas, Australian government has adopted the policies of the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature which recommends that all nations should at least preserve 10
percent of the forest. Most of the forest in Australia is beyond this percent (Department of health
and Water Resources 2015). The Australian forest that is usually protected by nature has
increased from 11% to 17% between the years 1998 to 2013.
The country has also adopted other policies like the Australia Comprehensive, Adequate
and Representative reserve system. This system has helped the nation to preserve more than 2
million hectares that were initially for tenure (Treby, Castley, &Hero, 2014). Australia also
promotes biodiversity conservation to make sure all forms of life coexist together without
destruction (Department of health and Water Resources 2015). Another policy that prevents the
destruction of trees is the Old-growth forest policy. The Old-growth forest has been given high
priority when it comes to trees conservation as they provide a range of aesthetic and cultural
values.
Gaps and Challenges of Policies Implementation
One of the major challenges in that hinders policy implementations in forest conservation
is reluctant of some regions like Queensland and New South Wales. Prior to the year 2000, the
rate of deforestation was minimal in those areas as compared to the period from around five
years ago(Evans, 2016). This demonstrates that some states do not take policies serious or else
they have no clue about the need for forest concervation. Other than that, the country should take
the head in controlling and conserving forests and trees other than leaving them on the hands of

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regional governments(Reside et al., 2017). This, in turn, will allow a national guideline, policies,
and punishment that cut across the nation despite the nature of the region that provides strict
rules and regulations(Buizer et al., 2014). However, there are gaps in how a comprehensive
policy can be made across the country as various regions differ (Treby, Castley, &Hero, 2014).
In addition, there are various and different races, ethnic communities and religions in the country
and thus an understanding of conservations may differ. Further research needs to be performed to
addresses such issues.

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References
Akbari, H. (2002). Shade trees reduce building energy use and CO2 emissions from power
plants. Environmental Pollution. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0269-7491(01)00264-0
Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2012). Little left to lose: Deforestation and forest degradation in Australia
since European colonization. Journal of Plant Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtr038
Buizer, M., Humphreys, D., & De Jong, W. (2014). Climate change and deforestation: The
evolution of an intersecting policy domain. Environmental Science and Policy.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.06.001
Cunningham, S. C., Mac Nally, R., Baker, P. J., Cavagnaro, T. R., Beringer, J., Thomson, J. R.,
& Thompson, R. M. (2015). Balancing the environmental benefits of reforestation in
agricultural regions. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2015.06.001
Cool Australia. (2019). Forest Fact Sheet. Retrieved from
https://coolaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Forests-fact-sheet1.pdf
Department of health and Water Resources (2018). Australia's Forest Policies. Retrieved from
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/forestry/policies/
Department of health and Water Resources (2015). Conservation of Australia's Forests. .
Retrieved from http://www.agriculture.gov.au/forestry/australias-forests/forest-mgnt/
conservation
Evans, M. C. (2016). Deforestation in Australia: drivers, trends and policy responses. Pacific
Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1071/pc15052

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McElvaney, K. (2019). Solutions to Deforestation | Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Retrieved from
https://www.greenpeace.org.au/what-we-do/protecting-forests/solutions-to-deforestation/
Pandit, R., Polyakov, M., Tapsuwan, S., & Moran, T. (2013). The effect of street trees on
property value in Perth, Western Australia. Landscape and Urban Planning.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.11.001
Pincetl, S., Gillespie, T., Pataki, D. E., Saatchi, S., & Saphores, J. D. (2013). Urban tree planting
programs, function or fashion? Los Angeles and urban tree planting campaigns.
GeoJournal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-012-9446-x
Reside, A. E., Beher, J., Cosgrove, A. J., Evans, M. C., Seabrook, L., Silcock, J. L., … Maron,
M. (2017). Ecological consequences of land clearing and policy reform in Queensland.
Pacific Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1071/pc17001
Treby, D., Castley, J., & Hero, J. (2014). Forest Conservation Policy Implementation Gaps:
Consequences for the Management of Hollow-bearing Trees in Australia. Conservation And
Society, 12(1), 16. doi: 10.4103/0972-4923.132122