By 2050, the koalas of New South Wales (NSW) in the Australian state may be extinct unless the government does not intervene immediately to protect them and their habitat, a parliamentary inquiry will be decided after a year-long investigation.
Land clearing for agriculture, urban development, mining and forestry has been the biggest factor in the fragmentation and loss of animal habitat in NSW, the country’s most populous state, for decades.
The long, drought-stricken Bush-fire season, which ended earlier this year, was also devastating to animals, destroying about a quarter of their habitats across the state, up to 81% in some areas.
The final report of the 311-page investigation said that “the evidence is not very clear.”
If the government complies with the committee’s recommendations, our children, and grandchildren will be the only way to see koalas in NSW.
The report, commissioned by a multi-parliamentary committee, makes 42 recommendations, including an emergency census, prioritizing animal protection in urban development planning and ways of increasing conservation funding.
But it said it stopped unanimously recommending a ban on entry into public native forests.
Stuart Blanch, Australia’s World Wide Fund (WWF) Land Settlement and Reconstruction Manager, called on the government to comply with the recommendations and strengthen the protection of animal habitats.
“The WWF urges the Prime Minister to revise the weak land settlement laws to protect koala habitats, increase funding for farmers who actively conserve the trees where the koala habitats are there, and transition koalas from forests to plantations.” Blanche said in a statement.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Gladys Berjeklian said the government would consider the report and respond “on time” and had already allocated $ 44 million ($ 30.14 million) for an animal protection strategy.
