There is a law against land-clearing in NSW - let’s keep it!

Land-clearing causes salinity, dust storms and kills wildlife. Yet in New South Wales, clearing of native vegetation is still increasing, despite the introduction of laws to end broadscale land-clearing in 2003. More native bushland was wiped out in 2009-2010 than any other year since records commenced in 1988.

Erosion south of Cobar, NSW. Photo: Barry Traill.

Landclearing is also a primary threat to our marine environment. The Independent Scientific Audit of Marine Parks in New South Wales showed that land based impacts including land-clearing and soil disturbance upstream caused increased sediment input in coastal waterways and within estuaries.

Despite the proven negative impacts of land-clearing, the current draft of the Native Vegetation Regulation 2012 severely weakens the protection of our natural landscape at a time when we actually need to be strengthening it. The long-term decline in the extent and quality of native vegetation in NSW needs to be seriously addressed through a reduction of land-clearing - to protect NSW’s biodiversity.

With only a small fraction of NSW’s original bushland remaining, the situation for our bush and its wildlife is dire.

There is now less than a month for you to voice your opposition to the NSW Government’s plan to greenlight the destruction of the state’s little remaining remnant bushland.

Don’t let the NSW Government take us back to the bad old days of bulldozers running the State.

Take action

Right now, the draft Native Vegetation Regulation 2012 is on public consultation until the 24th August 2012. To write a submission download our submission guide.