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Issue: Societal responses - Responses to vegetation loss, carbon loss, species loss and species change

This is an issue under the Land theme of the Data Reporting System.

Why we need to know about this issue

Societal responses to environmental issues often attempt to address a mix of pressures and conditions, rather than being developed on a one-to-one basis against each pressure or each aspect of condition.

Removal of vegetation destroys biodiversity habitat, can cause severe land degradation and can ultimately lead to a range of further pressures on the land, including, potentially, micro and macro climate change, erosion, salinity, habitat and species loss and species change.

Replanting and physically protecting (eg with stock exclusion fencing) existing vegetation addresses these pressures and these aspects of condition collectively, helping to preserve species and ecosystems that might otherwise disappear and also provide ‘nurseries’ from which outside land can be re-seeded, should it ever become available for the re-establishment of native species, while protecting the land from a range of further pressures.

Indicators

• LD-27 Area and proportion of agricultural land under various aspects of "best practice" 
  The wide range of pressures vegetation loss, carbon loss and species change places on the land need to be addressed collectively and holistically. The mix of practices intended to address this issue are generically described as “best practice”. This indicator should be a physical measure of all land affected by some form of societal response to agricultural degradation. It is a measure of the extent of the response, rather than the effectiveness of the response.
• LD-28 Percentage and area of farms with planted trees 
  Replanted trees is an important measure of efforts to redress the damage done to the land by vegetation removal and the further pressures resulting from that removal. Percentage of farms with planted trees gives some physical measure of the extent of the response.
• LD-29 Area and proportion of forest under "best practice" 
  Deforestation since European settlement has had a massive impact on the Australian landscape and its biodiversity. Area of remaining forest under various degrees and types of management provides insight into the quality of the national response to deforestation.
• LD-30 National area under plantation forestry 
  Replanting trees is an important strategy to redress the damage done to the land by removing its vegetation and the further pressures resulting from that damage. Area under tree plantation gives a physical measure of the extent of the response.
• LD-31 Success of programs to reduce carbon loss and increase carbon sequestration 
  Success of programs to reduce terrestrial carbon loss, measured in terms of actual quantities of carbon retained as a direct result of such programs, would be a direct measure of the extent and effectiveness of the response to loss of carbon from vegetation and soil.
• LD-38 Regions with investments having a major focus on salinity 
  Land degradation is rarely caused by only one human pressure and can therefore only be effectively addressed by targeting a range of pressures simultaneously.
  Dryland salinity may be moderated by responses, such as revegetation, that are in fact intended to address other land degradation problems such as soil loss or habitat loss.
• BD-06 Measures taken to conserve species or ecological communities on land that is not part of the national reserve system 
  Because so much of Australia’s remaining vegetation and biodiversity is not within protected areas, off reserve measures are critical to protecting vegetation and biodiversity.
• BD-17 Institutional response to loss of native vegetation 
  An inventory of institutional responses to vegetation loss is a direct indicator for broad community action addressing a range of pressures which arise from vegetation loss, including habitat loss, species loss and change, soil loss, salinity and soil acidity and loss of carbon sinks.

Related issues

• Land - Land condition- Land cover 
• Land - Land condition- Soil stability and quality 
• Land - Land condition- Condition of terrestrial species and ecological communities 
• Land - Land condition- Hydrology 
• Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Soil loss and loss of soil quality 
• Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Land clearing 
• Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Salinity 
• Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Species introduction and species change 
• Biodiversity - Landscapes- Ecosystem diversity 
• Biodiversity - Pressures on biodiversity- Land clearing 
• Biodiversity - Species, habitats and ecological communities- Conservation status of species and ecological communities 
• Land - Societal responses- Responses to salinity 
• Biodiversity - Species, habitats and ecological communities- Community action on species and ecological communities 
• Biodiversity - Landscapes- Government action on landscape protection