MEDIA RELEASE 9 March 2026

The Commonwealth and State Government’s recently released maps of national priories for protection to honour their commitment under the Global Biodiversity Framework to protect  30% of Australia by 2030, identifying State Forests in north-east NSW as amongst the very highest priorities, the question is will they now heed their science and protect these forests.

In recognition of the world’s rapidly worsening biodiversity crisis, Commonwealth and State Governments have committed to the Global Biodiversity Framework target to protect 30% of Australia by 2030.

In accordance with the National Roadmap for achieving 30by30 the governments have released maps showing priority areas for protection, identifying State Forests in north-east NSW as amongst the highest priorities in Australia for areas with important biodiversity and ecosystem values and relatively low levels of protection, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

NEFA have reviewed the 30by30 criteria and maps, along with supporting information: Stopping logging north-east NSW’s public forests is an important step to meet Australia’s goal to protect 30% of its lands by 2030.

“Now that the Governments have identified these State forests as the highest national priorities for protection, the question is whether they are going to heed their science and comply with their own criteria by protecting these forests, or instead continue to degrade one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

“It is clear that protecting State Forests in north-east NSW is an achievable outcome that would best satisfy the criteria to prioritise protection of areas of high biodiversity, adequately sample the range of ecosystems, and create well connected reserve networks”,

“As well as the promised Great Koala National Park, there are an additional 580,000 ha of native State Forests in north-east NSW identified for protection, this will increase overall reservation of north-east NSW to 29.1%.

“Importantly, protecting State Forests is an achievable outcome that will not require purchasing the land, though will require structural adjustment packages for affected workers.

The Commonwealth is relying upon desert areas with relatively low biodiversity values to satisfy most of the 30by30 targets, though still need to protect an additional 39 million hectares. As noted by the Commonwealth “The task is not only to protect more, it’s about making sure that we protect the right places”.

“What the Governments do now is a test of whether they intend to honour their commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework, or rort the process by adding more deserts with low biodiversity values” Mr. Pugh said.

BACKGROUND

North-east NSW is taken to comprise 7.6 million hectares north from Newcastle to the Queensland border, bounded to the south and west by the New England Highway.

In 2021 Australia signed onto the Global Biodiversity Framework, committing to protect or conserve 30% of our land and seas by 2030, prioritising areas of high biodiversity value, adequately sampling the full range of existing ecosystems, and creating well connected networks of reserves. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has 23 action-oriented global targets for urgent action over the decade to 2030. The actions set out in each target need to be initiated immediately and completed by 2030.

The Australian Government has collaborated with states and territories to develop a National Roadmap for protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land by 2030, which has been agreed to by all Environment Ministers. This includes specific targets and criteria in ‘Achieving 30 by 30 on land, National Roadmap for protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land by 2030’.

As part of the National Roadmap for 30by30, on 26 January 2026 the Commonwealth released three new national maps as a tool to guide decision making. One map identifies important biodiversity and ecosystem values, another ecological representativeness, and the third combines these to identify areas known to have important biodiversity and ecosystem values that are not well represented in Australia’s existing protected areas. As noted by the Commonwealth “The maps help identify places where protection or conservation can make the greatest difference for long-term biodiversity outcomes”.