Climate change, land clearing puts koalas at risk

They’re a precious Aussie icon but NSW’s koalas are now under threat, sparking calls for drastic action to protect the species from extinction.

Koalas are veering towards extinction so rapidly in NSW that the state government has been forced to upgrade the species protection status to “endangered”.

Land-clearing for housing, agriculture and mining has been blamed for putting the species under pressure, with devastating “Black Summer” bushfires further destroying habitat.

In a damning report gazetted on the eve of the federal election, the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee report said landclearing of koala habitat undertaken between 2000 and 2017 had contributed to the plunge in numbers, along with drought and rising temperatures.

The deforestations was linked to the urbanisation of seaboard fringes of the state together with the expansion of coal and coal seam gas developments over the past two decades.

The “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019 further impacted koala numbers with an estimated nine per cent of the species distribution impacted.

A photo taken on November 2, 2019 shows a dehydrated and injured koala receiving treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie. Picture: Saeed KHAN

While numbers tended to bounce back after fire, koala-monitoring records from northeast NSW showed some areas had none return.

Other factors leading to the decline included road deaths with more highways cutting through koala habitat while dog attacks from pets in residential areas built near local populations were also impacting numbers.

The report said it was the opinion of the committee that koalas in NSW were “facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future”.

“Much of the koala’s national distribution now overlaps with human-modified landscapes,” it said.

A pastoral company has been fined $18,000 in the Dalby Magistrates Court after illegally clearing land in the Kumbarilla State Forest, southwest of Dalby. Picture: DES

“Human activities including deforestation and land clearance for grazing, agriculture, urbanisation, timber harvesting, mining and other activities have resulted in loss, fragmentation and degradation of koala habitats.

“Extinction risk of the koala is predicted to be greater in the western distribution of its range in NSW than in the east due to these land use changes and future scenarios of climate change.”

The report said projections based on current trends suggested that by 2100, koala habitats

would be on average in drought for half the time, with severe drought occurring “every five years”.

Koalas had previously been classified as “vulnerable”.

The upgrade to an “endangered” classification was made “after a large reduction in population size”.

An endangered listing mean scientists believe the chances of the species becoming extinct is “very high”.

Should numbers continue to decline – and the species extinction probability be deemed “extremely high” – the classification could be koalas be upgraded again to “critically endangered”.

State opposition environment spokeswoman Penny Sharpe accused the Government of trying to hide the report by gazetting it on the eve of a federal election.

“This is the last chance for koalas,” she said.

“Land-clearing, deforestation and lack of action on climate change – this is why koalas will be extinct by 2050.”