Loss of koala habitat shows ‘total failure’ of nature laws, conservationists say | Wildlife

A greater compensation for Koala housing has been approved under the nature laws of Australia in 2025 so far that in any other year that has followed the list of marsupials as a threatened species, according to an analysis by Australian Conservation Foundation.

The destruction of 3,958 ha of bush approved in eight projects, including a coal mine in Queensland, is equivalent to around four airports in Sydney.

The environmental group said that despite the government’s commitment to zero extinctions, the data stressed that nature laws could not protect the endangered species against damage.

“Since koala has been recognized as threatened with extinction since 2012 and should therefore be protected against damage, this highlights the total failure of current laws to maintain trees in the soil and prevent additional decline in the species,” said ACF Nature Darcie Carruthers activist.

The analysis came while New South Wales announced its long-awaited Grand National Park in Koala, in a “historic” victory for the defenders of the community environment who put pressure on the governments of successive states for more than a decade.

Koala was listed for the first time as vulnerable under national laws in 2012. Its conservation status was upgraded in threat in 2022 – which means that its trajectory was worsened – with the destruction and fragmentation of habitat identified as a major and growing threat.

ACF analysis examined the project approvals under the environmental protection law and biodiversity conservation (EPBC) which affect Koala’s habitat. The Nature Group used separately land landing data data in NSW and Queensland to calculate the quantity of Koala housing in these 2011 to 2023 states – the most recent year for which the data was available.

He found that 2,295,134 ha of bush which was probably Koala’s habitat – more than twice the size of the Grand Melbourne – had been destroyed during this period. Over 1.9 million ha of this clearing were in Queensland. The ACF said that 98% of the compensation had not been referred for any evaluation of its environmental impacts under national law, agriculture the largest driver of destruction.

“The law itself intended to protect nature is so poorly applied that it has not prevented nearly 2.3 million hectares of Koala habitat likely to be in bulldozer and to reduce,” said Carruthers.

The analysis revealed that indigenous forest exploitation, in particular in New South Wales, also contributed to the loss of habitat of Koala, with 391,170 ha of probable Koala housing destroyed by forest operations over the 12-year period.

Carruthers said that a new overhaul of the EPBC Act “must establish clear rules to protect habitat for threatened species such as koala, gaps that allow Rogue bulldozers and establish an independent watchdog to apply the law.”

The Minister of the Environment, Murray Watt, said that the promised reforms will be put in Parliament this year and that this delay would arouse investments in projects and would cause greater environmental destruction.

An examination in 2020 of the EPBC Act by the former surveillance chief of the Graeme Samuel competition found that successive governments had failed to protect the unique species and ecosystems of Australia, which were in unbearable decline.

Dr. Kita Ashman, auxiliary professor at Charles Sturt University, urged the government to adopt Samuel’s recommendation to abolish the effective exemption from environmental laws granted to all native forest journalizations covered by regional forestry agreements between federal governments and states.

“The way in which the regional forest agreements operate under the EPBC law are indeed as a stolen door for destructive practices such as forest exploitation to continue with very little control,” she said.

“If we delete this gap, this will mean climatic shelters and places that are essential to the survival of the species will remain intact.”

A spokesperson for the Federal Environment Department said that all the projects referred to the government had been assessed on a case-by-case basis and that the developers had to demonstrate that they had avoided and attenuated potential environmental damage as much as possible.

“The Australian government is committed to strengthening and rationalizing our national environmental laws and establishing a National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” they said.

“One of the key pillars of new laws will be stronger protection and restoration of the environment, in particular by introducing new national environmental standards. These standards will improve environmental protection and guide decision -making. ”

They declared that Watt was widely consulted before the reforms, which would provide “a balanced set of modifications, based on the recommendations of the Samuel 2020 review”.

The spokesman said the Koalas Saving Koalas Federal Fund invested more than $ 76 million in Koala conservation measures.