CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia has launched a conservation plan aimed at preventing further plant and animal extinction. This is an ambitious goal for the country with the highest rate of seed loss in the world.
The government’s announcement on Tuesday highlighted years of extreme weather events, including wildfires and heatwaves, that threatened the country’s endemic species, and its environment and wildlife to an even greater threat than previously realized. Following an extensive new five-year study that found facing by climate change.
“Our current approach is not working,” Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement announcing the plans. she added.
The 10-year plan includes a pledge by the center-left Labor government to protect 30% of the country’s land mass, joining Australia with dozens of other countries, including the United States, who have signed the same goal. I am doing it. About 22% of Australia’s land is currently protected, according to the report, and increasing this figure to 30% would add more than 61 million hectares (235,000 square miles).
The government also identified 110 endangered species and 20 habitats as priorities for conservation efforts, with benefits extending to other endangered species, the government said. Among the animals identified for conservation are the bird known as the King Island Scrubtit, the Brassiere Wallaby and the roaring Grass Frog.
The government has not announced funding for the new plan, but previously committed $146 million (AU$224.5 million) to protect native species.
Scientists and conservationists hailed the lofty goal of stopping extinction once and for all. But they warn that the measures outlined by the government are inadequate, and that the plans are not enough to address major drivers of species extinction such as climate change, habitat clearing and invasive species. Some people say
Basha Stasak, Nature Program Manager, Nature Conservation Foundation Australia, said: Still, she said there is value in setting goals. “At the end of the day, goals focus our attention,” she added.
James Watson, a professor of conservation sciences at the University of Queensland, says much more money (about A$1.3 billion) will be needed to save all of Australia’s endangered species.
“It is probably impossible to reach the goal of stopping extinction based on the financial situation involved,” he said.
He said the approach by the new Labor government was more than a decade-long improvement on the “terrible” conservation strategy from the previous conservative government. “If you focus on 110 species, you cannot capture the needs of the other 1,600 species,” he added.
Australia has lost more mammalian species than any other continent in the past 200 years, according to a five-year study, and continues to maintain the highest rate of species loss among major developed countries.
Since colonization in 1788, 39 mammal species have become extinct. According to scientists, this figure is much higher than any other country.
Extreme weather events like the summer wildfires of 2019-2020 are increasing the extinction risk of many species, including already vulnerable species such as the koala, which was declared endangered earlier this year.