Forests are essential for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. But according to a recent assessment, the world is not on track to meet its goal of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.

Australia has a poor track record when it comes to forest clearing. Our rate of clearing is one of the fastest in the developed world. We also have one of the highest rates of animal extinctions from habitat loss.

To draw down carbon dioxide and improve biodiversity, we need to plant a lot more trees. But tree planting takes a lot of time and money, particularly in tropical areas where reforesting rainforests require a high diversity and density of tree species.

A much more cost-effective strategy is to protect existing forests, and a key opportunity in Queensland is to fast-track strategic parcels of high value regrowth vegetation (HVR) from regrowth to remnant forest.

High value regrowth vegetation is defined by the Vegetation Management Act 1999 (VMA) as regrowth, that is more than 15 years old, on freehold, Indigenous or similar land. High value regrowth vegetation is more vulnerable to clearing and degradation than remnant vegetation because there is less awareness or knowledge of its importance and value. It is therefore less likely to progress to remnant status – a status that would give it greater protection in law.

In the Wet Tropics, there are 1,758 high value regrowth areas in prime landscape locations – adjacent to protected areas or within statewide biodiversity corridors. They are mostly on smaller properties of 5-10 hectares.

For the past 4-5 years, Terrain NRM has been running a Building Rainforest Resilience program, which incentivised landholders in priority locations to restore and protect rainforest on their properties. It resulted in 738 hectares of habitat protection, more than 30 hectares of revegetation and nearly 250 hectares of weed management.

An additional benefit of this project was the connections made between landholders and Traditional Owners, which in some cases has led to business opportunities for First Nations people as well as opportunities to access Country. Building these relationships helps to create sustained maintenance beyond the life of the project.

This is a project that can easily be scaled up with more investment.

There are about 1000 small landholders in prime locations in the Wet Tropics who have high value regrowth vegetation on their properties. Greater investment would enable us to work with these landholders through incentives to protect and improve vegetation condition, especially in habitat that is endangered or ‘of concern’.