One-hundred threatened species are set for greater protection as a new government strategy aims to wind back declining numbers.
Australia has more than 1910 species listed as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and consultation with scientists, community groups and traditional owners led to the strategy’s focus on 100.
Koalas, quokkas, green sea turtles, Australian sea lions and orange-bellied parrots are among those added to the 10-year strategy.
The plan, coined the Threatened Species Strategy 2021-31, follows the federal government’s first threatened-species strategy in 2015.
The government has pledged an immediate $10 million in community grants for on-ground activities to deliver the plan.
Environment minister Sussan Ley said the money flagged that local communities were key to the strategy’s success.
“This is about halting and reversing historic declines and establishing the ways we can live together with our native species,” she said.
“The expanded list will drive recovery actions for an array of plants and animals in diverse environments, from the arid deserts to the rainforests, the forests to grasslands, inland waters and seas.”
Shorter-term — five-year — action plans, the first of which is due this year, will give priority to species on the list.
The grants will support activities including weed and pest management, feral predator control, environmental restoration and protection, off-site conservation activities, and community and citizen science programs.
“In prioritising 100 species through a decade-long threatened-species strategy, we are highlighting the importance not only of our mammals and plants but our, reptiles, insects, frogs and other freshwater and marine species,” Ley said.
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