Australian Beef Sustainability Framework welcomes EU recognition of land management practices

The Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF) has welcomed the announcement from the European Commission that Australia is considered a low risk under its upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Chair of the ABSF Steering Group, Patrick Hutchinson, said this was well-deserved recognition of the industry’s efforts with vegetation management.

“This is a positive reflection of industry’s strong sustainability credentials. The ABSF will continue to objectively measurement of forests, woodlands, and grasslands managed within our industry,” Mr Hutchinson said.

The latest vegetation figures from the Balance of Tree and Grass Cover mapping show that in 2022 net woody vegetation on cattle grazing land increased by almost 750,000 hectares in one year.

In Queensland, the net area of forest increased by over one million hectares. At a national level, the area of cattle grazing land meeting Australian forest thresholds reached 69.95 million hectares - its highest point since monitoring began in 1995.

Mr Hutchinson said the ABSF understood the importance of transparent reporting and noted that 927,000 hectares of forest was lost across national cattle grazing land between 2021 to 2022. While this is a decrease in loss compared to previous years, there is currently no process to determine the cause of the forest loss and for what purpose; however, areas of fire encroaching from national parks have been identified in some cases.

“You cannot look at the gains without understanding the losses. Something the industry wants to understand better - and is investigating - is the reasons why areas of forest are being lost,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“The industry prides itself on effective land management, and we need to balance management of natural capital with food security. Understanding the impact of natural disasters and climatic events on vegetation cover will help build a full picture on what is truly happening on grazing land.

“We know some of this loss is the removal of regrowth that may be weedy or too thick, in order to enhance ecosystems and promote biodiversity.”

Meat & Livestock Australia, on behalf of the ABSF, has engaged CIBO Labs since 2019 to collaborate with the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network and utilise imagery from the National Forest and Sparse Woody Vegetation Data to analyse vegetation gains and losses. This work provides the data for the industry to receive a clear and accurate figure of vegetation cover and track progress.