JAKARTA - Australia will set aside at least 30 percent of its land for conservation, in an effort to protect plants and animals on continents known for species not found elsewhere in the world, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said on Tuesday.
Australia is known to have lost more mammal species than any other continent, having one of the worst-specific downturn rates among the world's richest countries, according to a five-year environmental report card released in July by the government.
The report shows the number of species added to the threatened list or in a higher risk category, growing an average of 8 percent from the previous report in 2016.
"The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction has never been this big," Plibersek said in a statement.
Prioritizing 110 species and 20 places, Plibersek said the conservation-run area would increase by 50 million hectares. The 10-year plan will be reviewed in 2027.
The recently elected Federal Labor Party government has pledged A$224.5 million to help protect Australia's endangered native plants and animals.
Australia, the sixth largest country by land area in the world, is home to unique animals such as koalas and platypus, although the numbers have been reduced due to extreme weather events and human additives into their habitat.
Koala on most east coast was listed as an endangered animal in February, after natural experts estimated Australia had lost about 30 percent of koalas over the past four years.
Australia was recently hit by frequent extreme weather events, including devastating wildfires in 2019 and 2020 east that killed 33 people, billions of animals, burned an area nearly half of Germany's territory.
Australia's World Wildlife Fund (WWF) welcomes government conservation efforts, but urges authorities to go further and invest in a time-bound recovery plan, for each threatened species.
"Australia has more than 1,900 registered threatened species. This plan chooses 110 'winners'. It's unclear how this will help our other 'non-priority' endangered species," Rachel Lowry, chief WWF-Australia conservation officer.
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