According to a five-yearly environmental report card presented by the government on Tuesday, Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has one of the highest rates of species decline among the world’s richest nations.
The Christmas Island flying fox and the central rock-rat are among the mammals thought to be most in danger of going extinct in the next 20 years, mostly because of introduced predator species. Some animals, like the blue-tailed skink, are currently only known to live in captivity.
The sandalwood tree is deteriorating as well.
According to the report, which was released after Australia was devastated by drought, bushfires, and floods over the previous five years, rising temperatures, shifting patterns of fire and rainfall, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification were all having substantial effects that will continue.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek stated in a statement that the State of the Environment Report is “a distressing document” that “tells a story of catastrophe and decline in Australia’s environment.” She said that the incoming Labor administration would make the environment a priority.
She stated that in order to safeguard 30% of Australia’s land and ocean waters by 2030, new national parks and protected marine regions would be established.
With 533 animal species and 1,385 plant species now listed, the number of species added to the list of threatened species or in a higher category of risk increased by an average of 8% from the previous report in 2016. Over half of them are considered to be either endangered or extremely endangered.
The 2019–2020 bushfires would cause a dramatic increase in the numbers.
Plibersek stated in a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra that the southeastern Australia bushfires were “an ecological bomb blowing through.”
The analysis estimated that it would cost about A$1.7 billion ($1.2 billion) year to resurrect vulnerable species. According to Plibersek, the new administration has pledged to investing A$250 million in endangered species.
Environmental conditions were described as “poor” and “deteriorating” on the report card.
Since the turn of the 20th century, Australia’s average land temperatures have risen by 1.4 degrees Celsius.
The research stated that “sea levels continue to rise faster than the global norm and threaten coastal towns.”
According to the report, climate change and weather extremes pose a threat to several of the nation’s most valuable ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef, which has been severely impacted by widespread coral bleaching.
The report highlighted the threat of ocean acidification, which is brought on by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air, and said that it was approaching a tipping point that would cause the decline of coral juveniles, which are crucial to reef recovery, even though coral reef health is declining as a result of marine heatwaves.
According to Plibersek, kelp beds off the southeast coast have been impacted by warming oceans, which has damaged the abalone and lobster sectors.
The research, according to scientists and environmental organizations, should serve as a wake-up call to the government to increase carbon emission reductions to slow climate change, rewrite legislation to safeguard habitat, and increase funding for species protection.
According to Jim Radford, a research fellow at La Trobe University, “there is no more time to waste.”
Plibersek stated that the government would investigate the proposals provided by an independent evaluation of the current law, which was finished in January, before creating new environmental laws for 2023.
Politicians from the Green Party have called for environmental legislation to contain a climate trigger that would apply when new coal mines or gas projects are up for approval, but Plibersek claimed that the independent review found that there were already other laws in place to address climate change.
When asked if stopping the construction of new coal mines would reduce carbon emissions the quickest, she responded “no.”
Labor has stated that every new project will be judged on its merits in order to protect votes in coal mining districts.
