Koalas officially an endangered species in NSW, Queensland
Also: Koala listed as endangered after Australian governments fail to halt its decline (The Guardian)
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Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Koalas officially an endangered species in NSW, Queensland
By Mike Foley
February 11, 2022 — 12.01am
Koalas are now an officially endangered species in NSW and Queensland, with federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announcing on Friday that the species is now recognised as a higher risk of extinction.
“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,” Ms Ley said.
The iconic species was first listed as vulnerable in NSW, ACT and Queensland 2012. A vulnerable listing recognises that a species faces a high risk of extinction in the medium term. An endangered listing means a species is at high risk of extinction in the short term.
Koalas have suffered a rapid decline. It’s just 10 years since the species was listed as vulnerable in 2012 by former Environment Minister Tony Burke.
Land clearing for urban and agricultural development as well as feral predators are the biggest koala-killers. It is estimated as many as one-third of NSW’s koalas – about 10,000 animals – perished in the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and the preceding drought, and Queensland’s population shrunk by about 50 per cent in the past decade.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/koalas-officially-an-endangered-species-in-nsw-queensland-20220210-p59vf1.html
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Source: The Guardian
Koala listed as endangered after Australian governments fail to halt its decline
No recovery plan for the Australian marsupial was in place despite it being identified as a requirement nine years ago
Lisa Cox
Thu 10 Feb 2022 16.30 GMT
The Australian government has officially listed the koala as endangered after a decline in its numbers due to land clearing and catastrophic bushfires shrinking its habitat.
The environment minister, Sussan Ley, accepted the recommendation of the threatened species scientific committee that the koala populations of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory should have their conservation status upgraded.
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 the Morrison government last month announced $50m to help 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 said in addition to the endangered listing, the government planned to adopt a long-awaited national recovery plan for the koala.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/11/koala-listed-as-endangered-after-australian-governments-fail-to-halt-its-decline
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