Koalas will be extinct in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) by 2050 unless there is urgent action, an inquiry has found.
The once-thriving marsupial has been ravaged by habitat loss, disease and climatic events in recent years.
About 5,000 koalas are thought to have died in devastating recent bushfires, the report to state parliament said.
It urged lawmakers to ensure that remaining populations did not perish in rapidly diminishing habitats.
IFAW – International Fund for Animal Welfare report on koalas in New South Wales – see below
Calls for koala to be deemed as endangered in The Guardian
The official bushfires report is here
According to IFAW – Koalas have experienced declines over large areas of their range even before the effects of the current 2019/20 fire season have been taken into account.
This report, commissioned by IFAW and prepared by the Biolink research group, is the first comprehensive assessment of changes to the distribution and abundance of koalas as measured across three generations of koalas and culminating in the 2019/20 fire season.
The report quantifies the impacts of recent fire events on koalas in the context of broader population trends across New South Wales over the past three generations of koalas. 6,382 koalas are estimated to have perished in this time, nearly 15% of the population. 62% of the population has been lost over the past three generations.
With climate change and high-frequency fire only likely to increase, there are significant challenges for the longer-term survival, and for many populations the chances of recovery are unlikely.
