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The global extraction of raw materials is expected to increase by 60% by 2060. The stripping of Earth’s natural materials is already responsible for 60% of global heating impacts, including land use change, 40% of air pollution impact, and more than 90% of global water stress and land-related biodiversity loss, says the report, due to be released in February.
A new isotopic data platform will support the verification of Australian agricultural and food product claims and environmental credentials by telling us where our food comes from, and how it was grown.
Westpac has become the first Australian big four bank to set a zero deforestation target for agriculture but there are no signs the others will follow.
After 2025, dairy, beef and sheep farmers who bank with Westpac won’t be able to clear natural forests for agriculture, although they will still be able to remove regrowth.
Westpac says the measure is part of its commitment to the United Nation’s net zero banking alliance, which it joined last year, and came after consultation with the sector.
Mon Zin, a founding member of the Global Myanmar Spring Revolution, told the Green Left and Socialist Alliance forum that timber and wood imports increased between 2020–21.
Government official states that importers caught violating Australia’s ILPA were issued fourteen fines were issued of $13,320 each, and that the illegal trade can comprise up to 10% of timber products entering Australia, undercutting local Australian production, regional businesses, and communities.
Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has fined 14 furniture importers over $186,000 last week because they didn’t act to minimise the risk of importing illegally harvested timber.
A ‘critical shortage’ of timber is restricting builders from meeting housing demands, according to NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders.
Australia’s housing construction industry is facing a growing demand for timber which isn’t in stock, with an estimated reliance on imported timber to be doubled by 2050.
The Bob Brown Foundation has said an issue with a decades-old piece of legislation means the Tasmanian government has been illegally logging forests in the state for years. The government has denied the issue rendered past logging operations “illegal”, however Resources Minister Guy Barnett said he intended to introduce legislation that would remove doubt.
The state-owned Forestry Corporation suffered a $20 million loss last year, with NSW taxpayers forced to pay $441 per hectare to log critical native forests. The net cost of destroying more than 13,500 hectares of red gum, ironbark and cypress trees – largely for woodchip exports and firewood – was $6 million, while one-off recovery costs following the Black Summer bushfires soared to $14 million.
Last month, Wood Central reported that the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry finished reviewing the Illegal Logging Prohibition Regulation 2012, involving multiple foreign governments, 11 non-government associations, 20 industry associations, and significant timber importers and brokers.
That process led to the Australian House of Representatives debating a new bill, the Illegal Logging Prohibition Amendment (Strengthening Measures to Prevent Illegal Timber Trade) Bill 2024, which will boost powers to seize, enforce, and publically disclose non-compliances at the port.
Key Resources
Methodology
Data Tools
Click here to access the Global Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (ILAT) Risk assessment tool and to download the Forest Trends User Guide describing the functionality of the ILAT Risk Data Tool.
Click here to access the Cattle Data Tool.
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