Australians, though, seem unconcerned at the rate of land clearing of their own continent, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claimed.

Queensland, which occupies most of the east coast, is where the bush is disappearing the fastest. The latest annual edition of the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) reports that 375,000 hectares of forest were cleared in 2005.

“It’s a huge blow for our wildlife, our climate, our rivers and reefs,” says the WWF’s Nick Heath. “In order to function properly, our ecosystems depend greatly on all the plants and animals that are lost.”