SYDNEY — The
Australian government on Friday declared the koala
an endangered species, as drought, bush fires, disease and habitat loss have
drastically reduced the numbers of an animal that is an emblem of the country’s
unique wildlife.
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The announcement, by the country’s environment minister, came
two years after a parliamentary inquiry predicted that koalas could be extinct
by 2050 without urgent government intervention.
Reclassification from vulnerable to endangered does not require
the Australian government to take any special action. But it separately
announced that it would adopt a recovery plan for the koala issued by the
country’s environmental department.
That plan would aid the creation of laws protecting koalas and
their natural woodland habitats. Additionally, Prime Minister Scott Morrison
announced last month that the government would commit 50 million Australian
dollars ($35.7 million) over four years to koala recovery and conservation
efforts.
The plight of the koala gained global attention in 2019 when
bush fires raged over millions of acres in Australia, blackening the animal’s
habitats. A report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund-Australia estimated
that 60,000 koalas had been “killed, injured or affected in some way.”
In response, the Australian government committed 18 million
Australian dollars ($12.8 million) to be split between restoring the koala’s
habitats and investing in koala health research.
In 2020, WWF-Australia, the International Fund for Animal
Welfare and the Humane Society International collectively nominated the animal
for listing as an endangered species. The groups found that koala populations
in the states of Queensland and New South Wales had decreased by 50% or more
since 2001.
It’s unclear how many koalas remain. Efforts to count the
animals, which are continuing, have proved extremely difficult.
While the animal welfare groups welcomed the Australian
government’s actions announced Friday, others said that key problems —
specifically land clearing, deforestation and resulting habitat loss — had been
neglected.
Deborah Tabart, chair of the Australian Koala Foundation, said
the animal’s new status “doesn’t mean anything.” The federal government, she
added, “may be offering our koalas a nice new word, but behind all the photo
opportunities and political rhetoric they continue to approve the destruction
of the koala habitat.”
“If the clearing of the koala habitat continues,” Tabart said,
“a further status change is imminent — from endangered to extinct.”
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