The Australian Government signed the “30 x 30” target at COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, with a commitment to ensure that 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea is protected through the establishment of Protected Areas (PAs) and Other Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs).
An estimate of the cost if the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) suggestions are followed is upwards of $9B per annum with considerable hardship to some regional areas, including housing/construction, agriculture, and the hardwood industries. The Australian consumer will see the outcome in further price increases.
The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water, during her National Press Club speech on 19 July 2022, said:
“Our government will set a goal of protecting 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030.”
This follows the policy commitments by both the Coalition and Labor to the global High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which has a global goal to protect 30 per cent of land and seas by 2030.
The WWF has urged the Australian Government to set up a $5B Green Fund to acquire forests, productive land and reforest wheat fields. The land needed to meet the 30:30 objective has to be “high biodiversity value” land in accordance with the Global Biodiversity Framework.
The WWF proposal is set out in their report: “Protecting Australia’s Nature – Pathways to protecting 30% of land by 2030”.
In NSW, the report, if implemented, would see the closure of the NSW hardwood industry. This means the closure of businesses, schools, and townships in due course.
The independently estimated value per annum to the NSW economy would be:
- $2.9B in gross revenue;
- $1.1B in gross value add; and
- 8.900 FTEs.
The estimated value of the loss of agriculture in NSW would be possibly between $5B and $8B. The more productive lands would be sought.
New South Wales is Australia’s largest consumer market, home to a skilled workforce, advanced infrastructure and world-leading technology and innovation. It is the highest value state in terms of agricultural output.
The WWF’s report claims that more than 6,000 privately owned properties across Australia protect more than 10 million hectares (Mha) of land, but barriers at all levels of government make acquisitions difficult.
Claims by the WWF make for interesting reading disclosing their objectives and the impact on regional economies and the forestry and agricultural sector of Australia.
In addition to the 24 per cent protected already, WWF understands that a further 3 per cent of land area – around 23 Mha – is likely to be added in coming months as more Indigenous Protected Areas are declared. If this happens, the National Reserve System (NRS) will expand to cover approximately 27 per cent of land area. That would mean at least an additional 23 Mha – or 3 per cent of land area – which is equivalent to roughly the area of the State of Victoria (22 Mha) – would need to be added within the next eight years to reach the 30 per cent target.
Dr Taylor’s analyses, which used CAPAD 2020 data, determined that 41 per cent of Australia’s 89 bioregions on land had less than 10 per cent protected within the NRS.
Achieving a high ambition scenario will not occur without innovation, support from farmers and graziers, handback to Indigenous communities, bold new partnerships and major conservation financing from public and private sectors, including carbon and biodiversity markets.
WWF proposes a high ambition pathway to 30 per cent made up of five complementary approaches: Indigenous Protected Areas (likely the major contributor), Indigenous land buyback grants (e.g., to create new co-managed National Parks or freehold Indigenous lands managed for conservation), general land purchase grants (e.g., to create new National Parks or private wildlife sanctuaries), state land protection support (e.g., to phase out native forest logging and transfer to protected areas) and nature friendly farm covenants (a great opportunity).
In NSW, 7.6 Mha of land occurs in the NRS, equivalent to just 9.6 per cent of the total land area. Moreover, more than 60 per cent of ecosystems have less than 15 per cent of their area protected.
Achieving significant progress towards protecting 30 per cent of NSW would require not just a significant expansion of legal protection, but also revegetation and rewilding of millions of hectares of long-cleared lands in the sheep/wheat belt.
Completing the transition out of native forest logging could secure an additional two million hectares of public native forests. Transfer of Crown lands, including large areas of travelling stock routes with high conservation values, to the National Parks & Wildlife Service or Indigenous communities for conservation management, would need to be a major contributor to the 30 per cent target. Supporting First Nations to voluntarily declare additional Indigenous Protected Areas could play a key role.
