6 May 2018
Berejiklian's koala announcement falls far short
The NSW Government’s long anticipated Koala Strategy, released today, fails to protect the iconic species as it largely ignores the key threat of habitat loss, according to NSW’s peak environmental organisation.
“Unless we rapidly stop destroying their habitat, koalas are at real risk of becoming extinct in many parts of NSW within our lifetimes,” said Kate Smolski, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
The Koala Strategy lists four major interventions including conserving 24,000 hectares of land, running community workshops, establishing new koala hospitals and creating a community monitoring system. More information is available at: environment.nsw.gov.au/koalas
“It’s good to see that Premier Berejiklian is paying attention to the plight of the koala in NSW by adding small areas to the reserve system, however it falls far short of a comprehensive strategy to protect this iconic species.
“Less than one-year ago the Berejiklian Government ushered in new environment laws which made 99% of identified koala habitat on private land able to be bulldozed. This strategy ignores the new laws and fails to fix the problem.
“Any doctor will tell you that prevention is better than a cure. Koala hospitals are vital but by stopping the destruction of their habitat we will prevent many koalas getting injured in the first place.
“A real strategy to save koalas from extinction would include ending native forest logging, ensuring koala habitat can not be bulldozed by developers and agribusiness, and creating the Great Koala National Park. The Government’s strategy fails to do any of these things and as a result it will fail koalas,” concluded Ms Smolski.
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Forests and wildlifePlanning and Development
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