Officials in Australia have declared Koalas Endangered across large parts of eastern Australia. They cited the effects of drought, bushfires, habitat loss, and the decline of the country’s marsupial population. However, conservation groups feel that the government’s actions are too little too late.
Sussan Ley, Environment Minister, announced Friday that she will increase protection for koalas from New South Wales and Queensland by changing their status to vulnerable to endangered. She said that the government has provided millions of dollars in conservation funding, and is seeking approval from states for a national plan to recover.
“Together, we can ensure a healthy future of the koala,” she stated. This decision is in addition to the $53 million U.S. that has been committed to koalas from 2019, and will be a key part in that process. Their endangered status indicates a greater risk.
A parliamentary inquiry that was released in June 2020 revealed that New South Wales’ Koalas would be extinct by 2050 if there is no urgent intervention from the government.
The Koala population has experienced a dramatic drop in its numbers.
Due to climate-driven weather phenomena and extensive land-clearing in urban and agricultural development, the numbers of Koalas have fallen dramatically in recent decades. For example, the population of Koalas in Queensland and New South Wales has dropped by at least 50% in the past two decades.
The decline was further exacerbated by the deadly bushfires of 2019 and 2020 that scorched millions upon millions of acres over several month. According to a report by the World Wildlife Fund Australia, 60,000 koalas were “killed or injured” by the fires.
Josey Sharrad (International Fund for Animal Welfare campaign manager) stated that the bushfires were “the last straw”. This statement was issued on Friday. “This should be a wakeup call for Australia and the government to act faster to protect crucial habitat from development and to clear land and address the effects of climate change.”
Officials Declare That All Bushfires Have Ended in Australia’s Hardest Hit New South Wales.
Officials Declare That All Bushfires Have Ended in Australia’s Hardest Hit New South Wales.
According to the Australian Koala Foundation, 30% of total koala populations fell between 2018-2021. New South Wales saw a 41% drop in koala population.
Although bushfires were a contributing factor to the decline in population, Deborah Tabart, Chair of AKF, stated last year that they were not the only reason.
She said that droughts, heat waves and a lack of water for Koalas has caused a dramatic drop in the inland population. “I’ve seen landscapes that look almost like the moon, with dying trees all around.
The land clearing industry has been a key factor in the development of this country.
The World Wildlife Fund Australia has noted that land clearing has increased in recent decades. It has increased 13-fold since 2016 when the government relaxed native vegetation laws.
Australia has long been urged by animal welfare and conservation groups to take greater action to protect these species.
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WWF-Australia, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Humane Society International jointly called for the federal government’s reclassification of koalas endangered in April 2020. They claimed that this would increase public support, mobilize funds and protect the forests and woods where koalas live.
In recent years, the Australian government has provided some funding to koala protection efforts.
In 2019, the government committed $13 million to habitat protection and restoration, medical support and health research. Last month, the government also announced that it would allocate nearly $36 million to conservation and recovery initiatives in the next four-years.
Conservation groups are happy with the reclassification, but feel that more action is required
All three groups were happy to hear Ley’s announcement Friday, but they stressed that the status change alone will not save the koalas.
They urged the government to stand firm against deforestation, and refocus its efforts in forest protection and restoration.
Koalas aren’t ‘Functionally extinct’. They are in danger
Tabart with the AKF called the reclassification “nothing other than a token gesture”, saying that it was “too small, too late” as well as calling for meaningful legislative changes. Tabart has been a long-standing advocate for a Koala Protection Act that would protect koala trees against developers.
The AKF tweeted, “A status change can only be described as a single word.” “It doesn’t legalize land clearing. This is what leads to Koalas becoming homeless, and then dying from disease.”
The foundation also criticised the government’s decision not to list endangered koalas in Victoria and South Australia. It said that the decision showed “how out-of-touch our political leaders are about the current state of koala.”
Jeremy the Koala is Rescued from an Australian Brush Fire and Goes Home
Jeremy the Koala is Rescued from an Australian Brush Fire and Goes Home
Sharrad from the International Fund for Animal Welfare praised the decision, but also called it a “double-edged knife.”
She stated that “We shouldn’t have allowed things get to the point where it is at risk of losing an iconic national species.” “If we don’t have the ability to protect an iconic species that is endemic to Australia, then what chance will lesser-known but equally important species have?”
