Koalas will become extinct before 2050 in New South Wales (NSW) unless there is urgent government intervention to prevent habitat loss, a year-long inquiry has found.
The NSW parliamentary inquiry also found that a government estimate that there are 36,000 koalas in the state is outdated and unreliable.
The report, tabled yesterday by a multi-party committee, finds habitat loss remains the biggest threat to the species’ survival in the state and yet logging and clearing of habitat has continued.
Photo: Reuters
The committee said this habitat loss had been compounded by the bushfires late last year and early this year, with an estimated 24 percent of koala habitat on public land affected. In some areas, as much as 81 percent of habitat had been burned.
The report said climate change was exacerbating the severity of threats to the species such as drought and fire.
“Given the scale of loss as a result of the fires to many significant local populations, the committee believes the koala will become extinct in New South Wales well before 2050 and that urgent government intervention is required to protect their habitat and address all other threats to their ongoing survival,” the report said.
The committee expressed sadness and concern that the once-thriving koala population in the NSW Pilliga region was likely locally extinct before the bushfires.
“This report must be a game changer for koalas and the protection of their habitat in NSW,” the Greens Member of the Legislative Council and committee chair Cate Faehrmann said.
“The report found that habitat loss and fragmentation was the biggest threat to koalas, yet at every turn we were handed evidence that showed our current laws are inadequate and facilitating the clearing of core koala habitat,” she said.
“The strategies and policies currently in place to protect the koala aren’t working, like the NSW Koala Strategy, which fails in ensuring enough koala habitat is protected for the different koala populations across the state,” she said.
The committee made 42 recommendations, including that the government prioritize the protection of koala habitat corridors, improved monitoring methods, increased funding for community conservation groups, banned opening old-growth forest to logging and gave more incentives for farmers who protect land rather than clear it.
“There must be a significant increase in koala habitat protected from logging, mining, land clearing and urban development,” Faehrmann said.
Publication of the report comes ahead of an interim report on Australia’s national environmental laws that is due this week.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said the committee’s findings demonstrated that one of Australia’s most iconic species needed help.
“We are pleased that there is a growing political consensus that koala extinction is a very real possibility if we don’t act urgently to protect koala habitat,” council chief executive Chris Gambian said.
Conservationists were ready to work with government, industry, communities and unions and protection of forest corridors must form part of a plan to genuinely protect the species, Gambian said.
The report made clear the biggest threat to koalas was continued habitat loss, which was occurring in forests and on farms in the state at an alarming rate.
Gambian said the plunge in koala numbers was an indictment of both state and federal environmental laws.
“What’s the point of environment laws that set a course for the extinction of our most iconic national species?” he said. “The plight of the species is the clearest argument that we must overhaul our environmental laws to reverse the trend.”
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS