WWF WELCOMES ZERO EXTINCTION TARGET IN NSW NATIONAL PARKS

The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia has welcomed the NSW government’s Threatened Species Day announcement of a zero extinction target in the state’s national parks.

WWF-Australia also commended the declaration of more than 200 sites as Assets of Intergenerational Significance.

“This is a good start to help regenerate Australia following unprecedented bushfires,” said WWF-Australia Chief Conservation Officer Rachel Lowry.

Ms Lowry urged the government to go further.

“Species outside national parks also deserve a zero extinction target. Urban areas can be hotspots for biodiversity including some of our most iconic threatened species. For example, there are important koala populations surviving in Sydney outside protected areas."

“Farmers who conserve high conservation value forests and woodland should be supported through a major boost in incentives by the NSW Government’s Biodiversity Conservation Trust,” she said.

Ms Lowry said today’s announcement by NSW comes at a time when attention is turning to international negotiations and calls for all nations to protect 30% of the world’s land and 30% of the world’s seascapes by 2030.

“With global negotiations underway to secure 30% land and seascape protection, NSW could play a key role in helping Australia meet those targets through the expansion of their national park footprint, which is especially important after the bushfires."

“Only 9% of NSW is within protected areas. Four of the six national unburnt landscapes in need of urgent protection post bushfires reside within NSW. WWF urges the NSW Government to extend protection to these critical wildlife refuges as a priority intervention to prevent further species extinctions,” Ms Lowry said.

Australians can add their support to WWF’s Protecting the Unburnt program at Defending the Unburnt Six - WWF-Australia