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SYDNEY, Australia — The Australian government on Friday declared the koala an endangered species as drought, bushfires, disease and habitat loss have dramatically reduced the numbers of an animal that is emblematic of the country’s unique wildlife.
The announcement by the country’s environment minister comes two years after a parliamentary investigation estimated koalas might be present. extinct by 2050 without immediate government intervention.
The reclassification from vulnerable to endangered does not require any special action from the Australian government. However, it also announced that it would adopt a rescue plan for the koala, issued by the country’s environmental department.
This plan will help establish laws that protect koalas and their native woodland habitats. Additionally, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last month that the government will commit A$50 million ($35.7 million) over four years. koala rescue and conservation efforts.
The plight of the koala drew attention around the world in 2019, as millions of acres of forest fires in Australia intensified in 2019, darkening the animal’s habitat. A report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund-Australia, 60,000 koalas was “killed, injured, or affected in some way”.
As an answerThe Australian government has committed A$18 million ($12.8 million) to split between restoring koalas’ habitats and investing in koala health research.
In 2020 WWF-Australia, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Humane Society International collectively nominated the animal to list it as an endangered species. The groups found that koala populations in the states of Queensland and New South Wales had declined somewhat. 50 percent since 2001 or more.
It is unclear how many koalas remained. Counting animals continues extremely difficult.
While animal welfare groups welcomed the Australian government’s actions announced Friday, others said it had neglected key issues, particularly land clearing, deforestation and the resulting habitat loss.
Deborah Tabart, head of the Australian Koala Foundation, said the animal’s new status “means nothing”. The federal government “may be offering our koalas a nice new word, but behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they continue to endorse the destruction of koala habitat,” he added.
“If the clearing of koala habitat continues,” Ms. Tabart said, “an endangered-to-endangered-to-endangered status change is imminent.”
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