SYDNEY, Australia – The Australian government on Friday declared the koala an endangered species as droughts, bushfires, disease and habitat loss have drastically reduced the numbers of an animal that is emblematic of the country’s unique wildlife.
The announcement, by the country’s environment minister, came two years after a parliamentary inquiry predicted that koalas could be extinct by 2050 without urgent government intervention.
Reclassification from Vulnerable to Endangered requires no special action from the Australian Government. But it separately announced it would adopt a koala recovery plan issued by the country’s environmental agency.
That plan would help draft laws protecting koalas and their natural forest habitats. In addition, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced last month that the government would commit USD 50 million ($35.7 million) over four years to restore and conserve koalas.
The koala’s plight gained global attention in 2019 when wildfires raged across millions of acres in Australia, turning the animal’s habitats black. A report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund Australia estimated that 60,000 koalas had been “killed, injured or affected in some way”.
In response, the Australian government has pledged 18 million Australian dollars ($12.8 million) to split between restoring koala habitats and investing in koala health research.
In 2020, WWF Australia, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Humane Society International jointly nominated the animal for listing as an endangered species. The groups found that koala populations in the states of Queensland and New South Wales had declined by 50 percent or more since 2001.
It is unclear how many koalas are left. Attempts to count the animals, which continue, have proved extremely difficult.
While animal welfare groups welcomed the Australian government’s actions announced Friday, others said key issues – notably land clearing, deforestation and resulting habitat loss – had been neglected.
Deborah Tabart, chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, said the animal’s new status “means nothing”. The federal government, she added, “may be offering our koalas a fancy new word, but behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric, they continue to condone the destruction of the koala habitat.”
“If the koala habitat clearance continues,” Ms Tabart said, “a further status change is imminent — from endangered to extinct.”