ENVIRONMENT / BIODIVERSITY LOSS

The Extinction Ledger

Australia has the highest rate of mammalian extinction in the world. This is not an accident; it is the calculated result of agricultural and urban land clearing.

The EPBC Act (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act) was designed to protect matters of national environmental significance. Yet, since its inception, millions of hectares of threatened species habitat have been legally cleared.

The Externality Subsidy

When native vegetation is cleared for grazing, the ecological cost (loss of soil retention, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity) is externalized. The public absorbs the cost while the private landholder absorbs the profit.

The Natural Capital Deficit

Calculate the true economic cost of land clearing when carbon release and ecosystem restoration are priced in.

Hectares Cleared Private Agricultural Profit per Ha ($) Public Cost per Ha (Carbon + Eco) ($)

Total Private Profit

Total Unpaid Public Cost (Externality)

Interactive Tool Requires JavaScript

This calculator requires JavaScript to function. Below is the underlying formula so you can perform the calculation manually:

Externality = Hectares Cleared × Public Cost per Ha

Models the structural market failure where destruction of natural capital is effectively subsidized by the state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Don't environmental offsets solve this?: Reviews of the offset system show it is fundamentally flawed. Promising not to clear a different piece of bushland does not recreate the complex ecosystem that was destroyed by the bulldozer.