Researchers say real impact of deforestation being hidden in Australia’s official figures by ‘sleight of hand’

Report commissioned by conservationists suggests some recorded new growth is misclassified or otherwise not equivalent to losses in species-heavy forests

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At face value, the amount of forest in Australia is officially increasing, and has been since 2008.

But if an old-growth tree is felled in a forest and seedlings grow elsewhere, is the official account ecologically sound? Not according to new analysis, which suggests that the way Australia calculates forest cover obfuscates the impacts of ongoing deforestation.