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Table 5 Vulnerability to soil organic carbon loss from Australia’s topsoil (0–30 centimetres depth) by land-use intensity zone

Land-use intensity zone

Vulnerability to soil organic carbon loss

Extent of zone (hectares)

Extent of zone as a percentage of all Australia

Percentage of zone modified by land use

Minimum

Mean

Maximum

Intensive land-use zone

0.19

0.50

1.49

191,630,854

24.97

49.47

Extensive land-use zone

0.18

0.34

1.54

188,942,767

24.62

2.34

Relatively natural zone

0.19

0.37

0.91

386,997,032

50.42

1.46

Notes:

  1. Vulnerability is an index derived from the ratio of particulate organic carbon to the sum of humus and resistant organic carbon.
  2. Australia’s land-use intensity zones as defined in Figure 6.

Sources: Soil organic carbon loss vulnerability (Viscarra Rossel et al. 2019b, Viscarra Rossel et al. 2019a)

For more information, go toCarbon
Table 6 Average annual changes in area of forest and sparse woody vegetation by state or territory, for 2 successive 5-year periods (2010–14 and 2015–19) and a 5-year baseline (1990–94)

Jurisdiction

Woody type, and loss or gain

Hectares per year averaged over 5-yearly periods (percentages of national total)a

1990–94

2010–14

2015–19

NSW

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−42,864 (10.7)

−9,382 (13.7)

−11,632 (20.1)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−66,843 (19.5)

−74,579 (20.8)

−57,922 (16.1)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−142,063 (8.8)

−206,969 (9.9)

−205,164 (9.0)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

102,002 (9.3)

323,329 (11.8)

273,851 (11.7)

NT

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−1,865 (0.5)

−552 (0.8)

−465 (0.8)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−2,076 (0.6)

−2,988 (0.8)

−2,991 (0.8)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−283,958 (17.7)

−482,794 (23.0)

−635,982 (28.0)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

212,538 (19.3)

527,036 (19.2)

475,000 (20.2)

Qld

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−293,659 (73.2)

−43,300 (63.2)

−37,294 (64.3)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−225,618 (65.7)

−213,775 (59.6)

−249,991 (69.6)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−710,905 (44.2)

−801,283 (38.2)

−707,721 (31.2)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

480,386 (43.6)

877,613 (32.0)

704,981 (30.0)

SA

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−7,571 (1.9)

−1,790 (2.6)

−674 (1.2)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−6,843 (2.0)

−13,329 (3.7)

−7,930 (2.2)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−50,735 (3.2)

−95,284 (4.5)

−96,034 (4.2)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

47,801 (4.3)

121,854 (4.4)

138,705 (5.9)

Tas

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−8,650 (2.2)

−2,290 (3.3)

−1,148 (2.0)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−5,555 (1.6)

−6,070 (1.7)

−4,753 (1.3)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−5,375 (0.3)

−4,705 (0.2)

−2,964 (0.1)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

1,924 (0.2)

6,399 (0.2)

9,587 (0.4)

Vic

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−10,857 (2.7)

−2,345 (3.4)

−1,055 (1.8)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−17,239 (5.0)

−20,624 (5.8)

−14,514 (4.0)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−14,172 (0.9)

−14,940 (0.7)

−23,476 (1.0)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

6,715 (0.6)

39,295 (1.4)

40,335 (1.7)

WA

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−35,343 (8.8)

−8,850 (12.9)

−5,697 (9.8)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−18,824 (5.5)

−27,022 (7.5)

−20,986 (5.8)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−400,519 (24.9)

−490,467 (23.4)

−596,498 (26.3)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

249,941 (22.7)

845,242 (30.8)

703,716 (30.0)

ACT

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−115 (0.0)

−22 (0.0)

−8 (0.0)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−291 (0.1)

−215 (0.1)

−93 (0.0)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−150 (0.0)

−256 (0.0)

−233 (0.0)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

183 (0.0)

1,128 (0.0)

1,361 (0.1)

National

Forest loss (primary clearing)

−400,924 (100)

−68,532 (100)

−57,974 (100)

Forest loss (reclearing)

−343,289 (100)

−358,601 (100)

−359,181 (100)

Sparse woody vegetation loss

−1,607,877 (100)

−2,096,698 (100)

−2,268,070 (100)

Sparse woody vegetation gain

1,101,490 (100)

2,741,896 (100)

2,347,536 (100)

ACT = Australian Capital Territory; NSW = New South Wales; NT = Northern Territory; Qld = Queensland; SA = South Australia; Tas = Tasmania; Vic = Victoria; WA = Western Australia

  1. Numbers in brackets are percentages of the national total for the respective woody vegetation type.

Sources: Based on Activity Tables 1a, 1b, and 5 (DISER 2021a, DISER 2021d)

For more information, go toIndustry
Table 7 Plant pest incidents, 2007–16

Incident type

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Total no. (%)

Pest notification

5

4

14

17

23

50

34

28

30

20

233a (38.4)

Incursion

9

19

27

16

27

20

13

28

42

28

229 (37.7)

Weed detection

0

23

14

38

30

25

4

1

4

0

139 (22.9)

Border detection

1

1

0

3

0

1

0

0

0

0

6 (0.9)

Total

15

47

55

74

80

96

51

57

84a

48

607 (100)
  1. Note: inconsistencies in the summation of tabulated numbers area as originally reported.

Source: Table 11 in Inspector-General of Biosecurity (2019a)

For more information, go toIntroduced and invasive species
Table 8 Number of mainly terrestrial species on the National Priority List of Exotic Environmental Pests, Weeds and Diseases, by overall risk level and biosecurity risk type
Table 9 Number of introduced and invasive non-native species with at least one occurrence record in the Atlas of Living Australia, by biological group
Table 10 The 10 bioregions with the highest number of introduced species (including invasive non-native species) recorded at least once between 1901 and 2020

IBRA 7 bioregions

Other introduced species

Invasive species

Total introduced species

Sydney Basin

1,358

86

1,444

South Eastern Highlands

1,187

66

1,253

South East Coastal Plain

1,117

71

1,188

Flinders Lofty Block

1,061

64

1,125

South Eastern Queensland

1,050

73

1,123

Southern Volcanic Plain

956

61

1,017

NSW North Coast

832

61

893

NSW South Western Slopes

803

56

859

Brigalow Belt South

776

62

838

Victorian Midlands

778

46

824

IBRA = Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia; NSW = New South Wales

Sources: Pagad et al. (2018), EcoAssets (2021)

For more information, go toIntroduced and invasive species
Table 11 Governance of protected areas

Governance

Number of protected areas

Total area (hectares)

Percentage of total protected area

Percentage of Australia

Average size (hectares)

Community

75

66,678,669

43.90%

8.67%

889,049

Government

7,254

65,505,877

43.13%

8.52%

9,030

Joint

1,810

10,775,813

7.09%

1.40%

5,953

Private

4,253

8,921,111

5.87%

1.16%

2,098

Total

13,392

151,881,469

100%

19.75%

11,341

Sources: DAWE (2021ab), DAWE (2020e)

For more information, go toManagement approaches
Table 12 Condition of NRS properties in the intensive land-use zone, compared with other areas across Australia

Land-use zone

Long-term estimate of habitat condition (2001–18)

NRS

Other lands (not in the NRS)

Intensive land-use zone

0.77

0.51

Extensive land-use zone and relatively natural zone

0.86

0.82

NRS = National Reserve System

Notes:

  1. Land-use zones are defined in Figure 6.
  2. Scores range from 0.0 (native vegetation completely removed) to 1.0 (native vegetation with high ecological integrity).

Source: Williams et al. (2021b)

For more information, go toManagement approaches
Table 13 Number of nonindigenous vertebrate species present in Australia by biological group and threat category

Biological group

Number of nonindigenous vertebrate species within each threat category

Low

Moderate

Extreme

Extreme (P)a

Serious

Total

Amphibians

0

1

3 (1)

4

2

10 (1)

Birds

3

16 (8)

23 (13)

207 (60)

14 (7)

263 (88)

Mammals

1

3

27 (17)

99 (22)

2

132 (39)

Reptiles

0

1

4 (2)

82 (9)

6

93 (11)

Total

4

21 (8)

57 (33)

392 (91)

24 (7)

498 (139)
  1. P = precautionary; species that have not been assessed or if there is too little information to be able to properly adopt a risk analysis.

Notes:

  1. Numbers in brackets are the number of species for which there is at least one occurrence recorded (as of September 2021).
  2. Based on data aggregated by the Atlas of Living Australia from multiple sources, including Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network survey and monitoring data (EcoAssets 2021).

Source: Environment and Invasives Committee (2018)

For more information, go toManagement of specific pressures
Table 14 Assessment method for native vegetation extent and condition

Parent assessment

Child assessments

Method for assessment

Native vegetation extent and condition

Native vegetation extent and condition in intensive land-use zone

Results are reported by land-use intensity zones (Figure  6).

Assessment is based on evidence in Native vegetation.

Extent is assessed by patterns of modification, using National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) present Major Vegetation Groups (MVGs) version 6.0.

Patterns of ecosystem condition were informed by Habitat Condition Assessment System version 2.1 outputs, mostly by pre-1750 NVIS MVGs version 6.0 (and the box plots for present MVGs – Figure 7).

Native vegetation extent and condition in extensive land-use zone

Native vegetation extent and condition in relatively natural zone

Definition of assessment ratings:

Very good: Extent and condition of native vegetation exceed the minimum expected to maintain or enhance natural capital values.

Good: Extent and condition of native vegetation meet the minimum expected to maintain natural capital values.

Poor: Extent and condition of native vegetation do not meet the minimum expected. Natural capital values are reduced.

Very poor: Native vegetation has been removed. Natural capital values have been lost.

For more information, go toApproach