Poor governance kills more native plants and animals than bushfires

We have all been dismayed at the reported loss of native wildlife throughout the recent devastating bushfires. Images and stories of dead and fleeing animals have created a global response. Estimates of a billion animals lost and some species brought to the brink of extinction have prompted donations of food, equipment and medical supplies on an unprecedented scale.

Photo credit: abc.net.au

However, ecologists have been reporting devastating losses of wildlife and vegetation for decades. Australia has one of the worst records for species extinction worldwide. According to the New South Wales Government figures, 517,956 hectares of native bushland were cleared from 1998 to 2015. WWF-Australia estimates that this killed at least 9.1 million mammals, 10.7 million birds, and 67.1 million reptiles – more than 86.9 million animals in total—based on averages of measured animal densities (link wwf.org.au).

Recommendations from environmental impact studies, EIS, conducted prior to many development projects are often watered down or even ignored by developers with little or no penalties applied (link The Conversation Sept 2019). This non-adherence to law is happening at all levels, from major coal-mine developments on farmland and wilderness, to small housing estates in urban centres.

Photo credit: nationaltrust.org.au

Required offsetting is either not carried out or is conducted in a completely inappropriate manner resulting in continual degradation of ecosystems, fragmentation of habitat and losses of species from an area. Offsets don’t necessarily require a like for like replacement and consequently the actual number of animals or plants that are lost from an area are sometimes not replaced at all. 

Offsets also tend to result in smaller and more isolated patches of habitat being available to native flora and fauna creating a significant decline in biodiversity. These small areas make the animals and plants within them even more vulnerable and prone to extinction during a bushfire.

Late last year, the Federal Government launched a review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (link EPBCAct review). Some experts are concerned that the review may end up weakening environmental protection in Australia and developers will be able to continue to avoid complying with regulations even more blatantly.

Sustainable development requires steadfast compliance