Comments on the Australian State of the Environment Report
Nature Conservation Council Deputy Chief Executive Jacqui Mumford said:
“Since the year 2000, the number of species on the Federal Government’s threatened list has increased a shocking 20 per cent. [1]
“In the six years since the last State of the Environment Report, koalas, greater gliders, gang-gang cockatoos and yellow-bellied gliders have either been added to the list or had their threat status upgraded.
“The two most important things that all governments must do — state and federal — is end the logging of our native forests and end the bulldozing of woodlands on farms.
”Habitat destruction and climate change are the major drivers of this alarming trend.
“Australia is just one of many nations with a role to play in tackling climate change, while we depend on other countries doing the right thing, we must play a leadership role to keep the climate liveable.
“But we are the authors of our own environmental destiny when it comes to bushland and native wildlife.
“We have lost more than 7 million hectares of bushland since the year 2000. That has to stop.
“The State of the Environment Report confirms what the Samuel Review has already found — nature in Australia is being flogged and federal and state laws aren’t up to the job.
“We call on the government to review the disastrous anomaly of the Regional Forest Agreements which are a huge loophole that loggers are driving log trucks through every day of the week.
“We welcome Labor’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Samuel Review of the Commonwealth Environment Conservation and Biodiversity Act that has been gathering dust since it was tabled two years ago.”
References
[1] Environment scorecard finds Australia’s habitat ‘crumbling rapidly’, SMH, 19 July 2022,