Further evidence of failure to address extinction wave
03 Sep 2004
More than half of the national conservation targets agreed to by the Australian and most State and Territory governments have not been met, according to a new report released by HSI and WWF-Australia.
The report, Small Steps for Nature: a review of progress towards the National Objectives and Targets for Biodiversity Conservation, 2001-2005 was commissioned by HSI and WWF to provide a progress report on biodiversity conservation efforts across the continent based on the National Objectives and Targets 2001-2005 Report (NOTs targets).
The NOTs targets, set by the Federal and some State Governments were developed to focus government efforts on addressing the fundamental drivers of biodiversity loss in Australia by 20051.
While some progress has been made, Australia is still falling far short of what it will take to avert the wave of extinctions into the foreseeable future and the official lists of threatened species will continue to grow.
At this Federal election, HSI and WWF are calling on both major parties to commit to a new 'National Biodiversity Initiative2'. This needs to have a high level of political support and sufficient resources on a scale to match the problems. It would see the Commonwealth Government leading States and Territories and local communities towards an ecologically sustainable future for Australia.
WWF Director of Conservation, Dr Ray Nias, said, "WWF estimates that up to 20% of Australia' s half million or so plants and animals could be threatened with extinction as a result of the failure to deal with these threats in time.
We must see a quantum leap in our nation's efforts to deal with key threats such as declining water quality and wetland health, weeds and pest animals, states still land-clearing, and climate change."
In evidence, WWF and HSI pointed to the failure to establish an adequate system of well managed national parks and nature reserves, control the most serious weeds and pest animals, and until very recently, curb land clearing and agree on much needed water reforms. The report did recognise the recent progress by some States towards curbing vegetation clearing and agreement on much needed water reforms.
HSI Campaign Director, Michael Kennedy, said, "This report is further evidence that efforts to prevent or slow the species extinction wave are inadequate. Our concern is that Australians are still unaware of the depth of the problem or the scale of the challenge faced by both the people and governments of this country."
The report confirms the fear that too little, too late is being done to halt Australia's accelerating extinction wave set in train from the time of European settlement.
The report found that while there had been progress in controlling land clearing nationally, government efforts were well below forecasts.
It found:
- Australia's Governments have failed to put in place recovery plans for Australia's native vegetation types which have less than 10% of their original extent left.
- The target to complete implementation of environmental flows for Australia's most heavily impacted river systems by 2001 has not been met by any Australian Government. (NB: except the ACT and NT, which consider that they do not have over allocated rivers).
- Australia still permits the legal importation of more than 125,000 plant species of which over 4,000 are known weeds not yet present in Australia, with no Weed Risk Assessment (weed abatement costs the Australian economy $4 billion per annum).
- The target to prevent and manage introduced marine pests by 2003 has not been met.
- As indicated by the Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002, there are 2859 threatened ecosystems in Australia, all of which contain many unique species (ATBA 2002). The report noted that protection for endangered ecosystems/ecological communities under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is too slow.
Implementation of the National Biodiversity Initiative must be accompanied by rigorous monitoring and evaluation of outcomes.
Notes to editors
Number of species under the threat of extinction
| Type of species | Current EPBC listing | WWF estimate by 2010 |
| Vertebrates | 357 | 592 |
| Vascular Plants | 1294 | 6,175 |
| Invertebrates | 15 | 48,000 |
| Total threatened species | 1666 | 54,767 * |
* This total does not include the non-vascular plants (eg mosses and algae), fungi or single-celled organisms that make up the bulk of Australia's biodiversity.
WWF-Australia Press Office; Andy Ridley, 02 8202 1237 or 0415 865 992 - aridley@wwf.org.au
HSI Press contact; Nicola Beynon,: 02 9973 1728 or 0404 065 517 - Nicola@hsi.org.au
