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Koalas Need Trees

Koalas Need Trees is a grassroots campaign led by Koala Champions across the state.

We are standing up to politicians and big business whose actions are driving koalas towards extinction.  

Koalas are forecast to be extinct in NSW before 2050 unless we act quickly. 

Cutting down trees for urban development, logging and agriculture is destroying koala habitat and threatens their existence — yet the government is failing to protect koala habitat.

Koalas need human champions to campaign and lobby for their survival.

We must speak up for koalas in the face of development and logging interests.

Koalas don’t have a voice or the deep pockets of developers but we can speak up for them. 

Sign up as a Koala Champion



How to Save Koalas

  1. Place an immediate moratorium on logging in all state forests identified by the NSW Government as koala hubs and core koala habitat.
  2. End all logging in public native forest by 2030 and invest in a sustainable, plantation-based timber industry.
  3. Ban the destruction of all koala habitat for mining, agriculture and urban development on public and private land by 2025.
  4. Reinstate the State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2019.
  5. Transfer state forests and crown lands identified as core koala habitat to the national parks estate. 
  6. Support listing koalas in NSW as endangered under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the CommonwealthEnvironment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
  7. Write a recovery plan to double koala populations in every Koala Management Area.
  8. Fund koala plans of management (KPOMs) by 2030 in all local government areas where koala habitat is known to occur or is likely to occur.
  9. Identify koala habitat links in urban areas and areas requiring dog control, fencing modifications, traffic calming, koala crossings, tree retention and plantings.
  10. Protect existing koala corridors and create new ones by revegetating links between koala colonies.
  11. Establish a $1 billion fund for koala habitat restoration by the state election in 2023.
  12. Buy high-quality and core koala habitat from willing sellers and add to the national parks estate or establish stewardship payments for private landholders to protect koala habitat on their land.
  13. Map core and high-quality koala habitat and corridors over all tenures by 2025. Have the maps validated by independent experts, updated every five years and made available to the public.
  14. Establish a database with critical data on all koala populations in NSW. Update the database annually and publicly report on the species’ status.
  15. Develop an ongoing funding program to support koala carers and koala hospitals.

Here is the detailed suite of policy changes needed to protect koalas.
Find all the resources you need to help protect koalas.







Find an existing Koala Action Group or local Koala Champion:

 

 

 

Koalas Need Trees Petition

Koala numbers in NSW have been declining for decades. Since the 1990s, one in four koalas were lost, with habitat loss the leading cause. Then the Black Summer bushfires killed an estimated 8,000 koalas in NSW, leaving only 20,000 remaining in the wild.

The NSW Government has committed to doubling the koala population in the state by 2050. But rather than actively support the recovery and growth of this species, the NSW Government has continued to approve destructive developments, mines, native forest logging and agricultural land clearing of koala habitat. The NSW Coalition has not taken appropriate measures to expand the national parks estate to incorporate areas of core habitat for koalas and populations. 

In April, the NSW Government will make a massive decision regarding how koalas are protected on rural land throughout the state via changes to regulatory codes. This is a huge moment for koalas, with these changes set to impact 80% of the state. It will either push them to the brink or support their recovery.  

If the government is serious about doubling the koala population, they must make sure that the new codes are consistent with the steps needed to save koalas and: 

  1. map koala habitat and populations across the state
  2. protect all koala habitat from destruction 
  3. restore koala habitat and local populations

If the NSW government doesn’t take immediate action, this iconic species could be extinct in our state within decades.  

Sign and share the petition to help koalas survive in the wild until 2050, and beyond. 

We, the undersigned, call on the Minister for the Energy and the Environment, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and the Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW to save koalas in NSW from extinction by ensuring the revised Private Native Forestry and Local Land Service codes: 

  1. refer to scientifically robust and comprehensive mapping of koala habitat and populations across NSW; 
  2. protect all koala habitat from destruction on private land; and 
  3. enable restoration of koala habitat and local populations. 

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