Presentation delivered at #SCBO2016

1. Deforestation in Australia: drivers, trends
and policy responses
MEGAN C EVANS
F E N N E R S C H O O L O F E N V I R O N M E N T A N D S O C I E T Y , A U S T R A L I A N N A T I O N A L U N I V E R S I T Y
S C H O O L O F G E O G R A P H Y , P L A N N I N G A N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L M A N A G E M E N T , U N I V E R S I T Y O F Q U E E N S L A N D
@megcevans
#SCBO2016 BRISBANE, 2016
C O N S E R V A T I O N O C E A N I A S T Y L E : H I G H L I G H T I N G O C E A N I A ’ S U N I Q U E A P P R O A C H E S T O C O N S E R V A T I O N B I O L O G Y
A N D O N G R O U N D O U T C O M E S

2. Australia is now a global hotspot for land clearing.
I support a call for stronger laws to
#ProtectHabitat! http://thndr.me/x35NTr #SCBO2016
SCIENTISTS’ DECLARATION:
ACCELERATING FOREST, WOODLAND AND
GRASSLAND DESTRUCTION IN AUSTRALIA
Friday 8th July 2016
Today, scientists from across the world (including those listed), in
conjunction with scientific societies and the delegates of the Society for
Conservation Biology (Oceania) Conference, call upon Australian
governments, especially those of Queensland and New South Wales, to take
action. We call for the prevention of a return to the damaging past of high
rates of woodland and forest destruction, in order to protect the unique
biodiversity and marine environments of which Australia is sole custodian.

4. The Brigalow Declaration
Tuesday 25th November 2003
On open letter to the Prime Minister John Howard and Queensland
Premier Peter Beattie on the need to end the clearing of mature native
bushland in Queensland
Dear Prime Minister and Premier Beattie,
We the undersigned Australian scientists write to you concerning the issue of
land clearing in Queensland.
We endorse the leadership that you have both recently shown on this issue. We
encourage you to implement a solution as fast as possible.
Public Statement of Concern from
Queensland Scientists
13th May 2013
As scientists with expertise in biodiversity conservation and sustainable
development, we wish to express grave concerns about the future
impacts of proposed changes to Queensland’s Vegetation Management
Act and the Water Act.

6. Has the ‘end of broadscale landclearing’
already come to an end?
SLATS Land cover change in Queensland 2012–13 and 2013–14
VMA (1999) VMA
amendments

8. Deforestation = bad news for biodiversity
Land clearing in Cape York, Queensland | Kerry Trapnell, The Wilderness Society

9. Drivers, trends and policy responses
• Deforestation is a deeply political issue
• Need to understand institutional (cultural and policy),
economic and ecological dimensions
“We are unable to combine values, interests and resources in ways
which are not political”
Davis 1993, Public Policy in Australia

10. National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS)
Australian Department of the Environment (2015)
Deforestation trends
• 7.2 million hectares primary
forest cleared 1972-2014
• 7% reduction in primary
forest extent from 1972
*assumes all primary forest in 1972
• 9.5 million hectares
regrowth forest cleared over
this period

11. National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS)
Australian Department of the Environment (2015)
Deforestation trends
• Majority clearing 1980 – 1989;
loss of 4.7 million hectares of
native vegetation (inc 2.4 Mha
regrowth)
• Queensland really good at
cutting down trees
• Primary deforestation declining
(because there’s less over time)

12. Deforestation drivers
Deforestation
Sources of deforestation
Agents and their land use decisions
Underlying (ultimate) causes
Macroeconomic variables
and policy instruments
Immediate (proximate) causes
Factors that influence agent decisions
(institutions, infrastructure, markets, technology)
Angelsen & Kaimowitz 1999
World Bank Res Obs

13. Deforestation drivers
Deforestation
Sources of deforestation
Agents and their land use decisions
Underlying (ultimate) causes
Macroeconomic variables
and policy instruments
Immediate (proximate) causes
Factors that influence agent decisions
(institutions, infrastructure, markets, technology)
Forest
remaining!
Angelsen & Kaimowitz 1999
World Bank Res Obs

14. (a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)

15. Deforestation policy responses
• Some national level policy, but little to no regulatory
teeth, e.g
• Land clearing is a Key Threatening Process under EPBC Act since 2001
• Ecological communities receive EPBC listing when already extensively
cleared (Tulloch et al. 2015)
• National Heritage Trust aimed for NNL of native vegetation by 2001
• Current national framework aims for increase in native vege extent and
connectivity by 2020
• Protected areas generally don’t reduce deforestation (Pressey 2002)
• Native vegetation mainly regulated at the State level

16. I read all of Australia’s native
vegetation policies from 1970 – 2016
so you don’t have to
(please cite me)

17. A (very) brief history of native vegetation policy
Pre- 1980’s
Deforestation incentivised by Govts through low-cost finance, tax
concessions, cheap land and lease conditions
1980 - 1989
Regulation framed around soil conservation and salinity prevention
(WA), private conservation (SA), permits (Vic)
1990 - 2000
Rising public concern around biodiversity & ecologically sustainable
development. “NNL by 2000” in Victoria
2000 - 2009
“End of broadscale clearing” in QLD VMA 1999 & NSW NVA 2003.
Offset policies proliferated
2000 - 2016
Reviews & amendments (NSW, Vic, QLD, SA, WA), increased
emphasis on offsetting & self-regulation

18. Why the policy ‘ping pong’?
• Post- 2010 shift from ‘command and control’
to voluntary compliance and self-regulation
• ‘Red tape’ reduction and EPBC one-stop-shop,
EPBC Act standing bill
• Opening up (and subsequent re-closing) of
National Parks to grazing
• Worsening terms of trade for agriculture
during mining boom
• Top-down regulation deeply unpopular with
many landholders
Farmers’ terms of trade (ABARE 2003)

19. …what about “innovative instruments”?
• Biodiversity offsets, carbon farming, private conservation are part
of the policy mix, but do not substitute for regulation
• Incentives are great, but:
• We don’t invest nearly enough
• Subject to short term funding
• Policy uncertainty  business risk
• Require regulation to create scarcity
(and therefore value)
Evans MC, Carwardine J et al. 2015. Env Science & Policy

20. We need an effective policy mix
• Policy needs to control deforestation before it becomes
“uneconomic”
• Shift in focus on policy instrument type does not necessarily
mean there will be a change in policy effectiveness
• Diversity of policy instruments is needed (regulation, economic,
education)
• BUT - all policy types require monitoring, evaluation &
enforcement to be effective
Dovers and Hussey, 2013. Environment & sustainability : a policy handbook

21. Thank-you
PhD supervision
Karen Hussey, Stephen Dovers,
Stuart Whitten, Andrew Macintosh,
Grace Chiu
Helpful discussions
Peter Burnett, James Watson
Forest change data
Shanti Reddy
PCB Special Issue
Vanessa Adams, Richard Kingsford,
Rebecca Spindler
Funding
Australian Postgraduate Award,
CSIRO top-up scholarship
@megcevans