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A Koala and a Koala couple snuggle for warmth at the Australian Reptile Park, June 2021.Zuma Press
This story was originally published in the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The Australian governmentofficially listed the After a decline of its numbers and habitat shrinkage, the koala is now considered endangered.
Sussan Leey, the environment minister, accepted the recommendation from the threatened species scientific panel that the koala population of Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory be given a higher conservation status.
The stronger listing under national law is recognition that the koala’s plight has become more urgent and that successive Australian governments have failed to turn the much-loved animal’s circumstances around since it was listed as vulnerable in 2012.
It comes after Morrison’s government last month Announcement$50 million will be used to save the species. The funding was welcomed by environment groups but described as a “drop in the ocean” if the root causes of the species’ decline were not addressed.
Ley stated that the government was planning to adopt a long-awaited, national recovery plan for koalas in addition to the endangered listing. “Today I am increasing the protection for koalas in NSW, the ACT and Queensland, listing them as endangered rather than their previous designation of vulnerable,” she said.
“The impact of prolonged drought, followed by the black summer bushfires, and the cumulative impacts of disease, urbanisation and habitat loss over the past twenty years have led to the advice.”
Environment groups have long argued the koala’s conservation status should be upgraded. Three organizations—Humane Society International (HSI), WWF-Australia, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare—nominated it for the endangered listing.
“The koala has gone from no listing to now being declared endangered on the Australian east coast within a decade,” said Dermot O’Gorman, WWF-Australia’s chief executive. “That is a shockingly fast decline for one of the world’s most iconic animals. The endangered status is a grim but important decision by minister Ley.”
“There is still time to save this globally iconic species if the uplisting serves as a turning point in koala conservation,” O’Gorman added. “We need stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes.”
Because it lowers thresholds at which development must be evaluated under national laws for potential significant impacts on the species, the endangered listing will offer additional protection for koalas. The recovery plan outlines the main threats to the koala as well as the actions required to prevent its extinction.
Although such a plan had been required by the species under Australian environmental laws for the last nine years, no Australian government had ever developed one. Nearly 200 recovery plans for Australia’s threatened species and habitats that were overdue.
It took the black-summer bushfire disaster to inspire consultation on a draft. The final version was delivered late last year to the minister. Ministers are legally bound to follow the recovery plan once it is approved. However, governments are not required to implement the plan.
Multiple threats continue to put the koala under severe pressure. These include global warming, disease, and the destruction of its habitat for development. A NSW parliamentary election is scheduled for 2020. Search for inquiry the species would be extinct in that state by 2050 unless governments took urgent action to protect its habitat and turn the declines around.
