Queensland
Regional ecosystems
Remnant vegetation is classified by regional ecosystems. Remnant vegetation includes a range of ecosystems including forests, woodlands, shrublands, heathlands, grassland and herbaceous vegetation types. In 2021, there were 1,435 regional ecosystems described at 1:100,000 scale in Queensland. Each regional ecosystem has an assigned biodiversity status and a vegetation management class.
Biodiversity status definitions
Biodiversity status and vegetation management class use pre-clearing extent and remnant extent, and thresholds are applied. We define regional ecosystems as:
- ‘Endangered’ where less than 10% of the pre-clearing extent remains across the bioregion or 10–30% of pre-clearing extent remains, and the remnant vegetation is less than 10,000ha.
- ‘Of concern’ where between 10% and 30% of the pre-clearing extent remains across the bioregion or more than 30% of pre-clearing extent remains and the remnant extent is less than 10,000ha.
- Of ‘No concern at present’ (biodiversity status) or ‘least concern’ (vegetation management class), where more than 30% of the pre-clearing extent remains.
For the vegetation management class, we use the same extent thresholds as the Vegetation Management Act 1999, which regulates vegetation clearing in Queensland.
The biodiversity status is based on an assessment of the condition of the regional ecosystem in addition to the vegetation management class criteria.
The biodiversity status is used for mining regulatory purposes under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and planning for biodiversity conservation. For reporting purposes, the information in this indicator refers to the biodiversity status of the regional ecosystem.
Queensland’s biodiversity status
In 2021, 79.97% of the state contained native remnant vegetation, of which:
- 1% of the state is remnant ‘Endangered’ regional ecosystems.
- 8.47% of the state is remnant ‘Of concern’ regional ecosystems.
- 70.50% of the state is remnant ‘No concern at present’ regional ecosystems, and
- approximately 20% is non-remnant.
Monitoring
In 1997, we started regional ecosystem extent monitoring. The clearing of remnant regional ecosystems peaked around 2000. After this period, the government introduced stricter vegetation protection legislation, which led to a reduction in remnant regional ecosystem clearing. Over time, the clearing of remnant regional ecosystems closely aligns with changes in the vegetation protection legislation.
All data, including historical data, is reviewed with each Regional Ecosystem mapping release. Therefore, the data is not directly comparable with previous State of the Environment Reports.
