Conservation group Coast Environmental Alliance (CEA) has welcomed a formal request by three wildlife organisations to increase legal protections for koalas Australia-wide, following horrific bushfires across the country late last year and earlier this year which wiped out a quarter of their habitat in NSW alone.
WWF Australia, the Humane Society International, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare have jointly nominated koalas to be classified as endangered under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
CEA spokesperson, Jake Cassar, said any moves towards stopping the extinction of koalas were positive.
“The question is, considering the implications for stopping certain large scale developments, is the Government willing to support our koalas over the big mining companies and developers?” Cassar said.
“It’s important to note that specific regional populations of flora and fauna can have their own conservation status, and the CEA is hoping that Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, will table a motion to have our local koala populations listed as endangered, irrespective of the outcome for a state or national endangered listing.
“On a local level, this could greatly restrict the kind of unsustainable developments we continue to see, and trigger legislation to ensure that potential habitat is protected into the future.”CEA has compiled all recent known sightings from across the Central Coast, including sightings over the past 20 years from the Government’s own website.
“We have the data to prove that our koalas are not locally extinct, as it was thought, which is the first and most vital step in establishing an officially endangered population listing.
“It’s really a matter of now or never to protect these little Aussie battlers from becoming extinct in the wild in the next few decades.
“It will take strong political leadership and the community ensuring that our voices are heard to turn this situation around.
“When our children and grandchildren ask us what we did to stop koalas becoming extinct, hopefully people can say that we did absolutely everything we could.”
The move also has the support of the State Opposition, which has called on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to back the call and make a submission to the Federal Government.
Shadow Minister for Environment, Kate Washington, said koala populations were already experiencing a perilous decline in NSW before the recent bushfires.
“Land clearing has exploded across NSW over the past few years, and over development is pushing this iconic species to the brink,” Washington said.
“Classifying koalas as endangered will accurately reflect the reality of their decline and strengthen the measures and protections in place to finally turn the situation around.”
Washington said the organisations had been forced to make the request “because our state and federal governments refuse to take the necessary action”.
“Our koalas are endangered, and they need our help to survive,” she said.
“I’m hopeful the NSW Government will stop being a roadblock and throw its weight behind this nomination.”
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said the State Government had already reconvened the NSW Koala Strategy Independent Expert Advisory Panel since the bushfire crisis.
“The Expert Advisory Panel provides advice to Government on options to support our koala population,” he said.
“Approximately one quarter of the modelled koala habitat in eastern NSW is within the fire-affected area, but there is not a firm estimate on the number of koalas lost.
“We all know that the bushfire crisis resulted in koala loss, and that this could have impacted their status as ‘vulnerable’.
“When it comes to determining the classification of koalas, this is the responsibility of the independent NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee.
“The NSW Government is currently working to ensure its investment of $44.7M in the NSW Koala Strategy and $6.5M in NSW wildlife rehabilitation is delivered in a coordinated and targeted way.”
Source:
Media release. Apr 5
Shadow Minister for Environment, Kate Washington
Media release, Apr 6
Coast Environmental Alliance
Media release, Apr 8
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch