Australia failing to meet nature protection targets, UN finds

Australia is failing to meet international targets to protect nature in parts of the country where land clearing and habitat destruction are widespread, according to data in a major new United Nations report.

The UN says Australia is not meeting its obligation for
 a system of parks that protects 17% of all regions. 

The UN report on protected areas, released at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties in Egypt, examines progress by countries to meet global conservation targets.

Conservation groups said the report showed that Australia was “far from meeting” international targets that require countries to develop well-connected and ecologically representative protected areas for nature.

While 19% of Australia’s total land area has conservation protections in place, this is largely due to an increase in Indigenous protected areas in inland Australia.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Australia failing to meet nature protection targets, UN finds.”