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VEGETATION MANAGEMENT IN QUEENSLAND: CHANGE, DON'T CHOP

The new Act | Wildlife Queensland and the Act | Vegetation management issues | Legislation summary | Impacts of the Act

The new Act

The Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2004 received Royal Assent in April 2004. The new law aims to preserve remnant vegetation by phasing out broadscale clearing.

But …

• Does the Act go far enough?
• How equitably does the Act affect Queenslanders?

Wildlife Queensland will be lobbying the Queensland government to review the law by August 2005.

Wildlife Queensland and the Act

Vegetation management is an important issue for Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (Wildlife Queensland).

Change, don't chop

WPSQ supports a new way of dealing with land and vegetation that repairs past damage and manages for the long-term future. Our stance is summed up by the phrase: Change, don't chop.

What Wildlife Queensland did

Wildlife Queensland submitted a position paper to the Queensland government during the initial review period of the legislation's passage through Parliament. Further details of the Wildlife Queensland policy.

Wildlife Queensland successfully lobbied for:

• the Act not to aim for ecologically sustainable land use because we argued that this is incompatible with maintaining biodiversity
• recognition and inclusion of non-clearing of 'of concern' regional ecosystems an vegetation in essential habitat for rare and endangered wildlife
• restricted clearing close to more smaller watercourses than originally proposed.

Wildlife Queensland's position

The table below summarises our position on the new Act.

Next step

We will be lobbying for a review of the vegetation codes within 12 months.

Vegetation management issues

Clearing native vegetation has severe impacts on our biodiversity:

• increases global warming due to less take up of greenhouse gas CO2 by vegetation
• loss of wildlife habitat
• allows non-native vegetation to establish itself
• contributes to erosion and loss of nutrients out of the soil.
  

Legislation summary

Intentions of the Act

• Conserve remnant vegetation: endangered and 'of concern' regional ecosystems through stopping broadscale clearing by 31 December 2006.
• Prevent land degradation and biodiversity loss
• Manage clearing
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by retaining vegetation sinks

The Act incorporates all the tree clearing provisions in the Land Act 1994 and the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

Provisions of the Act

• Up to 500 000 hectares of land will be allocated for clearing before 31 December 2006, including land under ballot and permits already applied for.

Property maps of assessable vegetation (PMAVs) introduced to give landholders certainty over the management of non-remnant vegetation on their land and remove the incentive to keep clearing just to keep the vegetation non-remnant.

Queensland government through the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (NR&M) is the 'concurrence agency' for applications made to local government for land use change or to reconfigure a lot where there is remnant vegetation on the land. Development will only be allowed if protected vegetation is not cleared.

Financial assistance package

A total of $150 million funding is available for adjustment. This is not part of the Act but was introduced as part of the state election commitment.

• $130 million financial assistance package. Assists landholders disadvantaged by the new framework, especially primary producers, by assisting them to exit the industry
• $12 million over 4 years. To be given out under competitive tendering process to maintain and preserve high value non-remnant native vegetation and other areas that are not proetected.
• $8 million over 4 years. To support best management practice.
  

Impacts of the Act

All these groups will be affected by the Act:

• rural freeholders
• rural leaseholders
• rural communities
• Indigenous communities
• rural residential dwellers
• urban landholders, if their land contains an endangered regional ecosystem.

Most urban communities and developers will not be affected but the conservation of protected vegetation may affect these groups.

For more information on Wildlife Queensland's activities, contact us by email or call +61 7 3221 0194.

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland