A
committee of the Legislative Council, State Parliament’s upper house, is
conducting an inquiry into koala populations and habitat in the state.
Matters it
is investigating include the status of koala populations, the adequacy of
current measures to protect the species and the impact of government
legislation and policies on koalas and their habitat.
This
inquiry is being welcomed by those concerned about declining koala numbers and
the loss of koala habitat. It is hoped
that it will lead to effective action by the NSW Government to stop the current
slide of koalas in this state towards extinction.
The
major threat to koalas is loss of habitat as a result of agricultural and
forestry activities as well as urban expansion into koala habitat (including
rural residential expansion). Other threats, many of them development related,
are road kill, dog attack and stress related disease. Other threats include drought and climate
change.
Current
government policies are resulting in loss of habitat and habitat
fragmentation. The NSW Government’s
easing of rules on native vegetation has led to an acceleration in land
clearing which is affecting koalas as well as other vulnerable native species.
Changes
to logging rules in NSW State Forests are also having a serious impact on
koalas and their habitat. A North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) study identified
that the Forestry Corporation has logged 2,500 ha of “highest priority” koala
habitat over the last four years.
On the
North Coast koala populations have collapsed by 50% in the last 20 years.
The NSW
Government responded to scientific and community concern about koalas by
introducing its Koala Strategy.
A joint
report by the World Wildlife Federation Australia (WWF), the NSW National Parks
Association and NEFA is very critical of this, pointing out that the $45
million plan will not prevent the extinction of koalas in NSW. Its primary failing is that “it ignores
changes in legislation in 2017 that made it legal to clear 99% of the state’s
koala habitat.”
Hopefully
this parliamentary inquiry will force the Government to finally take effective
action.
- Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on August 12, 2019
