Land use

Extractive and production land uses, if not managed sustainably, are a pressure on the land environment. The often localised and incremental nature of land-use intensification makes the individual changes seem minor, but these changes accumulate over time. Competition for land resources in Australia is increasingly affecting our natural capital and degrading the land. Reversing this trend requires collaboration and cooperation between people, businesses and communities to proactively plan and manage land for integrated environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits (Heiner et al. 2019). Over the next 30 years, Australia is likely to see major shifts in land use to try to achieve environmental, economic and social sustainability, and to adapt to changing climates (Bryan et al. 2016). Some of these adjustments will necessarily include adopting low-emissions technologies and building capacity to avoid emissions and sequester carbon in the agriculture and land sectors (DISER 2020c).

Changes at the national level

Land use in Australia continues to intensify (Figures 26–27). The net area (balance of additions and reductions) under more intensive uses (e.g. plantation forestry, grazing modified pastures, cropping and horticulture, irrigation, urban, industry and mining) increased by 3.2 million hectares (ha) between 2010–11 and 2015–16 to a total of 92.3 million ha (Table 1.1 in ABS 2021e). Land under ‘nature conservation’, ‘managed resource protection’ and ‘other minimal use’ increased by 5.4 million ha over the same period to make up 40.6% of the continent in 2015–16. Other production uses (‘grazing native vegetation’ and ‘production native forests’) declined by 1% (8.4 million ha) from 2010–11 to a total of 332.2 million ha in 2015–16, which is 43.2% of land in Australia (Table 1.1 in ABS 2021e). Surface water in Australia declined by 0.2 million ha over the same period.

Almost half of Australia is used for dryland grazing (48.2% in 2015–16) on native vegetation and modified pastures (ABS 2021e). There was an overall 2.5% decline in the area of ‘grazing native vegetation’ in 2015–16 compared with the area in 2010–11, with conversions to protection and (to a lesser extent) more intensive land use (from Tables 1.1 and 1.10 in ABS 2021e). From 2010–11, forestry increased slightly to a total of 1.3% of land in Australia in 2015–16 (both ‘production native forests’ and ‘plantation forests’) (Table 1.1 in ABS 2021e). ‘Dryland cropping’ and ‘dryland horticulture’ occur on 4.5% of land in Australia, whereas irrigated pastures, cropping and horticulture occur on 0.4% (Table 1.1 in ABS 2021e). Between 2010–11 and 2015–16, ‘dryland cropping’ and ‘dryland horticulture’ increased by 7.4% (as a percentage of 2010–11 extent), whereas the extent of irrigated agriculture (pastures, cropping and horticulture) increased by 39.6% (Figure 26). The largest areas of conversion between land-use types was from ‘grazing modified pastures’ to ‘dryland cropping’ (1.9 million ha from 2010–11 to 2015–16); however, the greatest degree of environmental conversion would be from ‘grazing native vegetation’ to ‘grazing modified pastures’ and ‘dryland cropping’ (2.4 million ha) (see Table 1.10 in ABS 2021e). While the area of ‘dryland horticulture’ halved, the total extent is small (0.1 million ha in 2015–16). There were significant increases in area of irrigated pastures, cropping and horticulture, from 2.1 million ha in 2010–11 to 3.0 million ha in 2015–16; mostly converted from 0.7 million ha of ‘dryland cropping’ and ‘grazing modified pastures’ (from Tables 1.1 and 1.10 in ABS 2021e). However, the greatest degree of environmental conversion would be the 0.1 million ha from ‘grazing native vegetation’ and ‘other minimal uses’ in relatively natural environments to irrigated agriculture (pastures, cropping and horticulture) (see Agriculture).

There is ongoing conflict among land-use options, with urban and other residential uses competing with natural environments and high-value agricultural land; this conflict is likely to continue as population pressures increase around major cities. ‘Urban intensive uses’, ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’, and ‘intensive plant and animal production’ increased by 30% (net 0.14 million ha) from 2010–11 to 2015–16 (Table 1.1 in ABS 2021e). The greatest degree of environmental conversion would be the 0.2 million ha of ‘grazing native vegetation’, ‘managed resource protection’ and ‘other minimal uses’ in relatively natural environments, to these intensive uses; particularly ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’ (see Table 1.10 in ABS 2021e) (see Population).

While additional land committed to ‘mining and waste’ is small at a national scale (70,000 ha), this is mainly through conversion of ‘grazing native vegetation’, ‘grazing modified pastures’ and some ‘dryland cropping’ (see Table 1.10 in ABS 2021e). These localised changes have a high potential for environmental impacts, and do not fully account for the legacy of past less well regulated mining activities, where that use is no longer current (see Extractive industries).

Changes at the state and territory level

Land-use conversions varied significantly across states and territories between 2010–11 and 2015–16 (Figure 28). More than 4.8 million hectares (ha) underwent some category of land-use intensification over the 5 years to 2016, mainly across New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

The largest area of conversion from lesser to more intensive uses (2.1 million ha) occurred in New South Wales, where land formerly in extensive production (mainly ‘grazing native vegetation’) was converted to more intensive production (mainly ‘grazing modified pastures’ and ‘dryland cropping’) (see Table 1.11 in ABS 2021e). The second largest area of conversion also occurred in New South Wales where 0.87 million ha of relatively natural environments (mainly ‘other minimal use’) was converted to intensive production (mainly to ‘grazing modified pastures’ or ‘dryland cropping’, and some ‘irrigated cropping’) (see Table 1.11 in ABS 2021e). Other large areas of conversions from relatively natural environments occurred in Queensland and South Australia, where 0.67 million ha and 0.45 million ha, respectively, were converted to extensive production uses (Figure 28). In both cases, these changes were from ‘other minimal use’ to ‘grazing native vegetation’ (see tables 1.12 and 1.13 in ABS 2021e).

Nationally, 0.37 million ha was converted to urban and other intensive uses (i.e. ‘urban intensive use’, ‘intensive plant and animal production’, ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’, ‘mining and waste’) between 2010–11 and 2015–16 (Figure 28). The most impactful conversions were from relatively natural environments in Western Australia (27,800 ha), Tasmania (30,400 ha) and the Northern Territory (16,900 ha), and to a lesser extent New South Wales (3,500 ha) (see tables 1.11, 1.15, 1.16 and 1.17 in ABS 2021e). The principal drivers of these conversions in each state are different. In Western Australia, these conversions were mainly from ‘other minimal use’ areas to ‘urban intensive uses’, and to a lesser extent from ‘managed resource protection’ to ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’ (see Table 1.15 in ABS 2021e). In Tasmania, the changed use was predominantly to ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’ from ‘other minimal use’ areas (see Table 1.16 in ABS 2021e). In the Northern Territory, the changed use was mainly to ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’ from a mixture of ‘other minimal use’ and ‘managed resource protection’, and also some conversions from ‘other minimal use’ to ‘urban intensive uses’ (see Table 1.17 in ABS 2021e). In New South Wales, the conversions from ‘other minimal use’ were also mainly to ‘rural residential and farm infrastructure’ (see Table 1.11 in ABS 2021e).