Action map to halt species decline laid out in landmark national audit
22 Apr 2003
SYDNEY: Australia's first comprehensive audit of the state of the nation's species and ecosystems has highlighted the urgent need for increased resources for regional conservation and greater commitment to putting species recovery plans into practice says WWF-Australia.
"This is a landmark report which has taken conservation science to a new level," said Dr David Butcher, WWF-Australia CEO.
"It has mapped clear actions and set regional priorities which will conserve biodiversity right across the Australian landscape. It cuts through a mountain of previous jargon-riddled reports and shows how national conservation programs must be focussed to achieve real results.
"If its findings are implemented, we will see a new era of cost effective conservation investment - a conservation business model - which has the potential to halt the continuing decline of Australia's animals, plants and ecosystems ."
The Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002 is part of the National Land and Water Resources Audit.
Key findings contained in the assessment include:
Over 2,800 of Australia's ecosystems and ecological communities are listed as threatened
78% of river and stream bank vegetation and 37 % of wetlands of national significance are in decline across Australia and 50% of Australia's inland water birds are listed as threatened due to loss of wetland habitat
Roughly half the total number of Australia's threatened regional ecosystems occur in New South Wales
Threatened birds are declining across most of Australia with regional extinctions in semi-arid parts of Western Australia
The "wave of mammal extinctions" across Australia is continuing and unless action is taken to halt the current massive changes to mammal habitat, species will continue to be lost.
Recommendations include a national program to improve protection of wetlands, urgent action to limit or halt vegetation clearing throughout Australia, greater resources for mammal conservation, more field research on the conservation status of eucalypts and acacias, improved management of national parks and reserves, increased community participation in threatened species recovery programs and a national assessment and monitoring program to track changes in species populations and regional ecosystems.
"Biodiversity has previously been relegated to the status of a poor conservation cousin to soils and salinity," said Dr Ray Nias, WWf Australia's Director of Conservation.
"This report demonstrates beyond doubt that biodiversity must be given greater prominence in natural resource management and that all sectors of the Australian community - from city office workers to farmers and rural businesses - need to take an active interest in the environment.
"While the task of conserving Australia's biodiversity - its plants, animals and ecosystems - is huge, this report shows that a highly strategic approach on a national scale can result in significant gains. The message is simple and heartening - biodiversity conservation is do-able and everyone can make a significant contribution."
