CANBERRA (CU)_Koalas are globally recognised as a symbol of Australia’s unique wildlife. Just a decade ago, the arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to the Pacific nation was listed as “vulnerable” on the country’s eastern coast. However, following a chain of natural disasters reported Australia over the recent years, these mammals are now seriously at risk of extinction.
Accordingly, koalas are officially listed as “endangered” across a swathe of the country’s eastern coast, as they fight to survive the impact of bushfires, drought and land clearing. According to conservationists, over the past two decades, koalas has crashed in much of eastern Australia, as they warned of the marsupials sliding towards extinction. Environment Minister Sussan Ley noted that designating the koala populations as “endangered” was a move aimed at offering these fluffy animals higher level of protection in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.
Highlighting a recent pledge by the government of Aus$50 million (US$36 million) to protect and recover koala habitats, the Minister said: “We are taking unprecedented action to protect the koala.”
Although the Koalas’ new status was welcomed by conservationists, they were critical of Australia’s failure to protect the species so far. “Koalas have gone from no-listing to vulnerable to endangered within a decade. That is a shockingly fast decline,” a conservation scientist from WWF-Australia, Stuart Blanch, said. “Today’s decision is welcome but it won’t stop koalas from sliding towards extinction unless it’s accompanied by stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes.”
While environmentalists have been unable to give exact figures on koala populations affected in eastern states, estimates by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, an independent government advisory body, show that koala numbers had slumped to just 92,000 in 2021, from 185,000 a decade earlier.
According to Alexia Wellbelove of the Humane Society International, the marsupial could be extinct in the east coast by 2050, if no action is taken offer them a higher level of protection. “We can’t afford any more clearing,” she said.
