Australia in the only developed nation to be listed as one of 24 global deforestation fronts in a new World Wide Fund for Nature report.
The report looks at 24 places with a significant concentration of deforestation hotspots or where large areas of remaining forests are under threat.
Eastern Australia is among the 24 places analysed across 30 countries. Together they made up 52 per cent of the total deforestation in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania between 2004 and 2017.
In eastern Australia, the report said "by far the most significant driver" of forest loss or degradation was due to "cattle ranching", in which trees are cut down to create pasture for cattle.