Our iconic Koala is now an endangered species.
The world’s favourite animal is now an endangered species in NSW, Victoria and Queensland. Today’s announcement by the Federal Minister for the Environment the Hon. Sussan Ley MP, to declare the Koala endangered is long overdue.
What next Minister?
Evidence has been mounting for years to support the conservation status change. The reasons for the dramatic decline of Koala is complex but the headline threats are undoubtedly the significant weakening of land clearing laws in NSW in favour of development and big agriculture, in tandem with unstainable native forest logging, devastating bushfires and an absence of a national approach to their conservation management.
It's now time for national action for this national priority. Only by working together with one plan and new resolve can we turn this disaster around. But can we expect the range of strategic actions needed to turn this around to eventuate? Well, the track record clearly doesn’t inspire confidence, despite the Ministers protestations, after all, it’s been a decade since the Koala was listed, in 2012 as vulnerable in NSW and Queensland. In those 10 years, nothing meaningful happened from the Federal Government.
This inaction contributed to their fast decline. The Koala it seems is just an emblematic flag carrier for our nations shameful record of environmental stewardship. Without either a State or Federal conservation plan the random ministerial commitments to more research or a captive breeding program, the worlds favourite animal will quietly slip towards extinction.
Remember it took just 10 years for koalas to go from vulnerable to endangered. Just 2 weeks ago Minister Ley announced $50m for Koala conservation and research. Note no commitment to protect large publicly owned forests. Once again the headline becomes the amount of money committed not the actions needed to address Koala decline. So what does $50m ($12.5m per yr) get you these days?
It’s no surprise that due to the toxic political environment inhabited by the poor Koala its easier for Environment Ministers to purchase expensive and small private land for Koala conservation than to stop logging the large forests which we already own. So even though continuing to support a loss-making industry that harms the environment and drives species over the extinction cliff, no brave minister has stepped up when it counts to draw a line in the sand and follow Victoria and WA in announcing an end to native forest logging.
In declaring the Koala endangered the Federal Government must work with State Governments to implement a national Koala Conservation strategy that:
Strengthens legal protections for Koala and their habitat
Ends native forest logging
Declares an intention to create the Great Koala National Park to protect the largest population of Koala in NSW
Establishes a network of Koala protected areas identified as important for Koala conservation • Invests in post logging management of the forest to rebuild conservation values
Funds conservation connectivity efforts to connect forest habitat between protected areas and private lands.
Supports landowners with core Koala habitat with funding to manage and preserve their remnant core Koala habitat.
Implements an industry transition plan to support the forestry sectors exit from native forest logging to a successful plantation model.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity to test the resolve of State and Federal Governments tasked to save our Koala. In the coming months, the Great Koala Protected Area Bill (2021) is before the NSW Parliament. Environmentalists across the mid north coast are asking for bipartisan support for this Bill to provide habitat protection to help save NSW Koala from extinction. The Commonwealth should provide policy and funding support to the NSW Government to make this happen as a national priority.
The gap between government action to address species decline and the solutions needed to confront the challenge is stark.
Spokesperson for the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) Committee, Kevin Evans, said “Time is fast running out for Koala in NSW. Without stronger legal protection of their habitat, Koala will struggle to exist in the wild beyond 2050”. “Its time to put aside entrenched political opposition to Koala habitat protection on public lands to save our national icon.” Mr Evans Said