❓ WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding vegetation clearing approved under the Environmental Protection Act, detection of illegal clearing, and clearing under exemptions. The response provides data on approved clearing, methods for detecting illegal clearing, and estimates of unauthorized clearing.
AnsweredQoN 1234Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(1) How much vegetation clearing, in total hectares, has been approved under Part V of the Environmental Protection Act each year for the last 10 calendar years? (2) What action is the government taking to detect illegal clearing of native vegetation? (3) How many hectares of unauthorised native vegetation clearing has occurred since September 2008? (4) How many hectares of clearing of native vegetation have occurred where there is a claimed exemption from the requirement to obtain a clearing permit?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 October 2013
Responded by
Minister for Environment
Response time
33 days
(1) 2004-2005 - 9 950 hectares
2005-2006 - 5 608 hectares
2006-2007 - 9 943 hectares
2007-2008 - 9 702 hectares
2008-2009 - 18 160 hectares
2009-2010 - 14 416 hectares
2010-2011 - 26 927 hectares
2011-2012 - 18 413 hectares
2012-2013 - 13 304 hectares
The Department of Environment Regulation (DER) records clearing permits in financial years, commencing from when the clearing provisions were introduced into the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
on 8 July 2004. This information is published in annual reports.
(2) Annual reviews of satellite data are conducted by DER to identify vegetation change. This data is assessed with information obtained through compliance actions and programs, strategic reviews of permits, incidents reported to DER by the community and other Government agencies. Based on the analysis of this information, and investigations DER determines whether unlawful clearing is likely to have occurred. DER's Enforcement and Prosecution Policy provides general guidance on how it administers its statutory enforcement and prosecution functions.
(3) DER has advised that from 1 September 2008 to 19 September 2013, 1 965 hectares of native vegetation was cleared without authority.
(4) There is no requirement to advise DER when clearing has occurred under an exemption.
2005-2006 - 5 608 hectares
2006-2007 - 9 943 hectares
2007-2008 - 9 702 hectares
2008-2009 - 18 160 hectares
2009-2010 - 14 416 hectares
2010-2011 - 26 927 hectares
2011-2012 - 18 413 hectares
2012-2013 - 13 304 hectares
The Department of Environment Regulation (DER) records clearing permits in financial years, commencing from when the clearing provisions were introduced into the
Environmental Protection Act 1986
on 8 July 2004. This information is published in annual reports.
(2) Annual reviews of satellite data are conducted by DER to identify vegetation change. This data is assessed with information obtained through compliance actions and programs, strategic reviews of permits, incidents reported to DER by the community and other Government agencies. Based on the analysis of this information, and investigations DER determines whether unlawful clearing is likely to have occurred. DER's Enforcement and Prosecution Policy provides general guidance on how it administers its statutory enforcement and prosecution functions.
(3) DER has advised that from 1 September 2008 to 19 September 2013, 1 965 hectares of native vegetation was cleared without authority.
(4) There is no requirement to advise DER when clearing has occurred under an exemption.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.