Forests are one of the most powerful tools our planet has. As well as being stunningly beautiful, they are vital for the health of everything that lives here. They provide food and shelter for an extraordinary range of life, from fungi and insects to koalas and tigers. They regulate our climate, clean our air, purify our water, and store vast amounts of carbon.

So here's a question worth sitting with for a moment: Have you noticed that Australian summers seem to stretch longer than they used to? That the heat arrives earlier, lingers later, and the cool change never quite comes when it should?

That's not just a feeling. Australia just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, with temperatures 1.61°C above average between April 2024 and March 2025.

There are many contributing factors, but one of the biggest and most overlooked is deforestation, the large-scale clearing of forests for agriculture, infrastructure, and development.

And the uncomfortable truth is, it is happening faster than most people realise.

 

What is Deforestation?

Deforestation is the clearing of forests to make way for human activity, including housing, roads, farming, livestock, and industry. It sounds simple when it is written like that, but the impact is anything but simple.

We are removing some of the planet’s most important natural systems at a staggering rate, often without fully appreciating what we lose in the process.

 

Australia's Deforestation Problem

Australia is home to some of the most unique and magnificent natural wonders in the world. But we have put that natural beauty and its wildlife under serious threat.

Australia has the highest rate of deforestation in the developed world and is the only developed nation to appear on the WWF's global list of deforestation hotspots.

In New South Wales alone, land clearing totalling 264,170 hectares occurred from FY18 to FY21, the equivalent of 242 rugby league fields bulldozed every single day.

According to the WWF, deforestation currently endangers over 1,000 plant and animal species in Australia. The koala was officially listed as endangered in parts of eastern Australia in 2022, with habitat loss cited as a key driver. When animals lose their habitat, they don't simply move on and live happily elsewhere. They die.

Deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 15% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. There is simply no way to address the climate crisis without addressing deforestation.

What are the Main Contributors to Deforestation?

Deforestation does not have a single cause. It is the result of several overlapping systems:

Requirement for land. As the global population grows, so does the demand for housing, infrastructure, and agriculture. Forests are frequently cleared to make way for new developments, industries, and roads. We demand a lot from the earth, and the natural world consistently bears the cost of that demand.

Paper production. This is one of the most significant and least discussed contributors to deforestation globally. It is estimated that 15% of all deforestation is driven by paper production, including toilet paper, which is used by only 30% of the world's population. We are, quite literally, flushing our forests away.

Land clearing for livestock. On the eastern coast of Australia, clearing for cattle or beef pasture causes 85% of deforestation. This is by far the most significant driver of forest loss in Australia, and it means wildlife habitats are being destroyed to raise animals that could live more sustainably in existing pastoral areas.

Forest fires. Fire is part of Australia's natural ecosystem, but longer, more extreme dry seasons driven by climate change are increasing both the frequency and severity of bushfires, compounding the pressure on already stressed forests.

 

What Happens When Forests Disappear?

Trees do far more than we tend to realise. They filter air, regulate water cycles, stabilise soil, and store carbon. When they are removed, all of that balance is disrupted.

Carbon stored in trees is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to further warming. Soil becomes unstable, leading to erosion and flooding. Water systems become less reliable. Food production becomes more vulnerable. And biodiversity loss accelerates.

More than half of all known land based species rely on forests. When forests go, so do the ecosystems that depend on them.

 

Does Deforestation Affect Human Health?

Yes, and more directly than many people expect. The consequences of deforestation extend beyond the environment and directly into human health. Trees clean the air we breathe. As forests shrink, air quality deteriorates, increasing our susceptibility to respiratory and skin conditions.

Deforestation also drives wild animals out of their natural habitats and into closer contact with human populations. The WWF reports that approximately half of today's infectious diseases, including COVID-19, Ebola, malaria, and Lyme disease, are zoonotic in origin, meaning they transmit to humans from other animals. As forests disappear and wildlife is pushed closer to human populations, the risk of these spillover events only grows.

 

What You Can Do About Deforestation

The problem is enormous, but as individuals, our small choices genuinely add up. Here are some of the most impactful things you can do:

Check your palm oil. Make sure any palm oil in the products you buy is sustainably sourced. Look for the RSPO label.

Choose recycled or bamboo paper products. Look for the FSC certified logo when shopping for any wood-based product. This certification means the product comes from responsibly managed forests.

Moderate your meat consumption. Diet has one of the biggest individual impacts on deforestation. Even reducing meat intake slightly, particularly beef, makes a meaningful difference.

Switch to bamboo toilet paper. Bamboo is technically a grass, not a tree. It grows over a metre a day, regenerates naturally after harvesting, and requires no replanting. Switching from conventional tree-based toilet paper to bamboo is one of the simplest, most impactful swaps you can make. And the quality? Not compromised at all. Soft, strong, hypoallergenic, and it doesn't cost the earth a single tree. Want to understand exactly how your toilet paper choice affects Australian wildlife? This one is worth a read.

Our health, our environment, our world. It's all connected.

 

The Link Between Your Bathroom and Forests

Conventional toilet paper is often made from virgin wood pulp, which means trees are harvested, processed, and turned into a single use product that disappears almost immediately after it’s used.

That is one of the less obvious drivers of forest demand. It does not feel like something that would have a big impact on deforestation, but when you zoom out and look at global consumption, it absolutely adds up.

This is where material choice really starts to matter.

Switching from tree-based paper to bamboo-based alternatives removes that pressure on native forests entirely. Bamboo grows rapidly, regenerates without replanting, and does not rely on clearing natural ecosystems to be harvested. It offers a way to meet everyday demand without contributing to ongoing deforestation.

If you want to go a little deeper into how that shift actually works in practice, we break it down here in more detail: The Bamboo Conspiracy: How It’s Secretly Making Your Bathroom (and the Planet) Great Again

What you choose in your bathroom is not separate from what is happening in forests. It is part of the same system.

 

Start With One Simple Swap

One of the easiest places to begin is right there in your bathroom.

Eco Cheeks 100% bamboo, unbleached toilet paper and tissue bundles are made without touching a single native tree, and delivered to your door plastic-free.

Bulk-buy your favourite bundles here and save more than just the planet and your cheeks.