NSW land clearing rises 16% despite habitat concerns

New South Wales land clearing rose again in 2024, with official figures showing a 16% increase in vegetation loss across the state and fresh criticism from conservation groups over the government’s response to habitat decline.

The latest annual Statewide Landcover and Tree Study, released on Tuesday, puts total clearing at 81,293 hectares for the year. That is an area more than 275 times the size of the Sydney CBD, according to the figures reported by The Guardian World.

NSW land clearing and the 2024 figures

The data point to a sharp rise in clearing of non-woody vegetation, which increased 70% compared with the previous year. That jump offset a decline in clearing of trees and shrubs, leaving overall vegetation loss higher than in 2023.

The figures also show that more than 80% of the cleared land was used for agriculture. The remainder was associated with infrastructure and native forestry, underscoring the scale of land-use pressure across regional parts of the state.

Environmental groups said the results demonstrate that the Minns government has not delivered on its pledge to reduce high clearing rates since taking office in 2023. Their criticism focuses on the gap between public commitments to protect habitat and the continued scale of land removal recorded in the state’s own monitoring data.

The report also highlights the pace of woody habitat loss. Based on the source material, close to 90 football fields worth of woody habitat were cleared every day in New South Wales during 2024. That scale of loss is significant because woody vegetation can provide shelter, food sources and connectivity for wildlife, while also contributing to broader ecosystem health.

Why the NSW land clearing trend matters

Land clearing is closely watched in New South Wales because it affects native habitat, biodiversity and the condition of landscapes already under pressure from agriculture and development. When vegetation is removed at scale, the impact can extend beyond the site itself, affecting habitat corridors and the resilience of local ecosystems.

The reported increase in clearing of non-woody vegetation is also important because it shows that reductions in one category of vegetation loss do not necessarily translate into an overall decline. In this case, the larger jump in non-woody clearing outweighed the drop in trees and shrubs, pushing the state total higher.

For conservation advocates, the figures are likely to reinforce calls for stronger action on habitat protection. For policymakers, they add pressure to demonstrate how existing land management settings are working, particularly in a state where agriculture accounts for the majority of cleared land in the latest report.

The annual SLATS report provides one of the clearest official snapshots of vegetation change in New South Wales. Its release gives campaigners and policymakers a common dataset to debate whether current rules are reducing pressure on native habitat or simply shifting the type of vegetation being removed.

No new policy response was included in the supplied material, but the latest figures are likely to keep habitat loss high on the environmental agenda in New South Wales as the government faces renewed scrutiny over land management and conservation outcomes.