Impacts of landclearing
Hundreds of millions of mammals, birds and reptiles have died or will die as a result of the clearing of native vegetation in New South Wales approved between 1998 and 2005, a new WWF report has found.
The report, Impacts of Landclearing: The Impacts of the Approved Clearing of Native Vegetation on Australian Wildlife in New South Wales, by three eminent scientists calculates for the first time the number of animals killed as a result of vegetation clearing in NSW.
The land clearing toll in NSW includes:
- over 11 million mammals with possums and gliders most severely affected, as well as many millions of kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, koalas and wombats;
- around 13 million birds comprising mostly woodland and forest birds and including species of honeyeaters and babblers that are under threat of extinction in NSW; and
- more than 80 million reptiles such as skinks and geckos.
