THE STORY OF AUSTRALIA’S EXTINCTION CRISIS SO FAR

Since Australia’s nature laws, aka the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, were implemented in 1999, the list of threatened species and ecosystems has continued to grow.

Australia’s environmental reputation is shameful, as we claim the top spot of having the world’s worst mammal extinction rate. Iconic animals like the east coast koala and greater gliders are being pushed to the brink of extinction as critical forest habitat continues to be destroyed due to loopholes in the EPBC Act. It’s clear these nature laws are failing our wildlife.

Join the call to strengthen our nature laws.

For the past decade, WWF-Australia has been campaigning the government to strengthen Australia’s national nature laws and end the extinction crisis.

Along the way, we called on our incredible supporters to join us when we’ve had opportunities to make an impact. Together, we’ve put pressure on our leaders to make a difference for the wildlife and wild places we love. We’ve come so far, but the journey isn’t over yet.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the campaign to date and what’s next.

May 2016

WWF-Australia joins the Places You Love alliance, made up of more than 40 environmental groups representing more than 1.5 million Australians who believe our national nature laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, is failing.

2018

WWF’s Living Planet Report reveals that global wildlife populations have declined 60% since 1970, and Australia’s iconic koala is declining at an even faster rate. Calculations revealed that koalas on the country’s east coast could become extinct by as early as 2050 if tree-clearing laws aren’t changed.

We called on our supporters to urge the NSW Government to save koalas, and their forest homes, and 26,000+ people answered the call!

Summer of 2019-20

Catastrophe struck when Australia was hit hard by the devastating bushfires during the summer of 2019-20. It was the most catastrophic bushfire season ever experienced in the country’s history.

WWF-Australia released a report that 3 billion animals were impacted by the crisis, with over 12 million hectares of habitat destroyed, further pushing our threatened species to the brink of extinction.

Our supporters in Australia and around the world rallied together to raise emergency funds to help on-the-ground response efforts and recover what was lost.

2020

A once-in-a-decade independent review of the EPBC Act is underway by Professor Graeme Samuel. WWF-Australia launches a campaign, petitioning the government to end Australia’s extinction crisis and strengthen our nature laws. Over 26,000 supporters raised their voices and signed the petition.

July 2020

Professor Graeme Samuel releases an interim report, which advises the establishment of a new independent agency to combat enforcement issues with the EPBC Act. The federal government rejects this advice.

WWF-Australia reveals that destruction of critical glider habitat increased by 52% in NSW and Qld after the species was listed as Vulnerable to extinction under the EPBC Act in 2016.

September 2020

A bill to transfer development approval powers to state governments that would further weaken Australia’s nature laws was rushed through the lower house. This bill was a disaster for wildlife, putting iconic species like the koala on the fast-track to extinction.

October 2020

The final report and Independent Review of the EPBC Act were handed to the government, finding that the laws to protect our iconic wildlife and their homes are ineffective and failed to protect matters of national environmental significance.

February 2022

Koalas on Australia’s east coast were uplisted from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered’ under the EPBC Act.

This important uplisting was possible thanks to thousands of supporters who raised their voices, asking the government to recognise that this iconic animal was on the fast-track towards extinction.

July 2022

Greater gliders are uplisted from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered’ under the EPBC Act.

September 2022

WWF-Australia releases the first Threatened Species Report Card, grading every federal electorate and exposing the extent to which Australia is failing threatened species. No surprise - Australia received an overall grade of ‘F’ - the worst possible score.

To coincide with the report, WWF-Australia’s My Backyard Tool was launched, giving people an interactive way to find out what threatened species could be living in their area. The tool also offered the option for the public to email their federal MP to take stronger action to strengthen nature laws and save wildlife.

More than 16,000 supporters called on their local representative, adding to the many voices that have already called on our leaders to end the extinction crisis.

December 2022

It’s been two years since Professor Graeme Samuel’s review was handed to the Australian Government. Finally, the government formally responds. Significant reforms are outlined, including a plan to establish strengthened environmental standards and an independent Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce the law. However, the plan lacks urgency and has significant gaps, with no mention of considering the impacts of climate change on nature.

August 2023

More than 30,000 supporters signed the petition urgently calling on the NSW and Federal governments to strengthen our nature laws when a greater glider, an Endangered species, was found dead just 50 metres from a logging site in Tallaganda State Forest, leading to a stop work order and investigations. This devastating news highlighted the failures in identifying and protecting habitat for Endangered species.

July 2024

The Australian Government’s first set of Nature Positive Bills passed the lower house, but these bills don’t go far enough to protect our fragile environment. We now have the opportunity to call on the Senate to strengthen these bills and close Australia’s logging loopholes.

What’s next?

We’ve come a long way since we first launched our campaign to end Australia’s extinction crisis and strengthen our nature laws. We’ve seen what inaction and the lack of urgency have done to the state of our environment and precious threatened wildlife.

With the future of our nature laws currently being debated in parliament, now is a critical moment to ensure that everything we’ve been campaigning for becomes a reality that’s written into our legislation.

We are calling on the Australian Government to:

• Strengthen the bills before parliament to address some of the most glaring failures of our nature laws.
• Ensure nature laws in Australia address deforestation by closing current loopholes for logging.
• Release a clear plan for the development and delivery of the key, outstanding components of the new Nature Positive Laws (Stage 3).

We urgently need your help to join our calls to strengthen nature laws and invest in the protection of threatened species.

Together, we can make a difference for forests and precious threatened wildlife.