Think Australia's bushfires killed a lot of animals? Weak environmental laws threaten the lives of more

In a previous life, I obtained an environmental science degree and worked as a fauna ecologist for an environmental consultancy.

Koalas are predicted to be extinct across New South Wales
and Queensland by 2050 according to conservation groups.

On an environmental impact study (EIS) in the rocky jump-up country out of Winton a few years ago, my colleagues and I recorded a healthy population of rock wallabies living in the caves and cliffs where a proposed coal mine was to be built.

Despite being listed as vulnerable under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the presence of the animals wasn't a barrier to the project going ahead.

The developers' planned to catch and remove the wallabies they could, and those they couldn't catch were going to be fenced inside the tailings dam where they would most likely die.

This wasn't an unusual scenario.

Every EIS I worked on — for coal, coal-seam gas, gas refinery, bauxite, housing estates, and airport expansion projects — during a three-and-a-bit year period found species listed as vulnerable or endangered.

Read the ABC News story by Nick Kilvert - “Think Australia's bushfires killed a lot of animals? Weak environmental laws threaten the lives of more.”

Australia’s east coast named as 'deforestation front' in WWF Living Planet report

Australia’s east coast has been compared to the Amazon as a “deforestation front” in a new global report by the World Wide Fund for Nature that underscores the threat to populations of koalas and other native species.

 Deforestation means koalas could disappear from the
wild in New South Wales by 2050, WWF warns. 

The Living Planet report, produced by WWF every second year for the past 20 years, says global populations of vertebrate species have declined 60% since 1970. But koala numbers have disappeared at a much faster rate – more than 20% a decade – to the extent they could disappear from the wild in New South Wales by 2050.

The report assessed 11 deforestation hotspots, where broadscale clearing had occurred at problematic levels since 2010, and where deforestation was expected to continue in the next decade. Eastern Australia was the only location in the developed world to make the list.

Read the story from The Guardian by Ben Smee - “Australia’s east coast named as 'deforestation front' in WWF Living Planet report.”

An Australian icon feels the heat

An Australian icon - koala populations
are rapidly declining in many parts and 
matters are worsened by our changing climate.

Koalas are a much-loved Australian icon and a tourism moneyspinner too, contributing more than A$1 billion each year to Australia’s economy.

Worryingly, however, there is growing evidence that koala populations are declining rapidly in many parts of Australia. They are thought to be declining in all but one bioregion (a way of classifying ecosystems) in Queensland and New South Wales.

They also face the growing threat of climate change. Recent modelling found that koala habitat could be considerably reduced as the world warms, particularly due to heatwaves and rainfall.

These declines are deeply concerning and failure to reverse them can result in only one outcome: the loss of koalas from many parts of the Australian landscape. But conserving koalas is a complex job.

Read about the challenges facing koalas on The Conversation - “Koalas are feeling the heat, and we need to make some tough choices to save our furry friends.”