Critically endangered species are falling through conservation cracks

Conservationists and farmers want “substantial investment” to reverse environmental damage which has put more than 220 critically endangered species “on the edge.”

Partly or completely reliant on unprotected land, such endangered species remain vulnerable to agricultural and industrial development. Around half of the 85,000 sq km of habitat on which these species rely is outside the protected estate.

Sixty percent of the globe’s land surface has been directly modified by human activities, which makes habitat loss a key threat for most species.  Clearing of land for agriculture is the leading cause of such habitat loss, and the extinction risk that goes with it, for those species involved. In Queensland, for example, 6800 km² of woody vegetation was cleared in 2018-2019, 93% of that to support agriculture. 

Threatened species tend to live in narrow ranges, in small patches of remnant habitat, which makes them vulnerable to further losses through drought, invasive species, bushfires or land clearing. Climate change is predicted to amplify the problem.

Knowing how much habitat remains, particularly for critically-endangered species, is essential for policy development and conservation action, says conservation scientist Dr Michelle Ward of Griffith University.

“The future of many species depends on what happens on private land, says Dr Jody Gunn, CEO of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance.  “Conservation doesn’t stop at the fence line of national parks.”

“We know that land managers care deeply about the plants and animals that their land provides a home for. There are thousands of landholders across Australia, already giving nature a helping hand. What we need is the policy and investment to turn that willingness into long-term outcomes.”

“Farmers are already engaged in efforts to protect threatened species, but they need the right tools and support,” National Farmers Federation President, David Jochinke, told Cosmos.

Substantial investment is needed to drive meaningful change and protect Australia’s biodiversity, he adds.

Understanding the size and nature of the problem is a critical step towards adequate protection. Now Ward and colleagues around Australia have published a landmark study on how much of Australia’s critically-endangered biodiversity relies on unprotected land, and is therefore vulnerable to agricultural and other uses.

Unprotected land accounted for about half of the habitat occupied by Australia’s critically-endangered species, says Ward, and thirty-nine of those species live entirely outside the park system. More than half of that vulnerable area also has some agricultural capability, she says, meaning it could be lost to farming.

Most of the critically endangered species are plants, followed by reptiles, frogs, invertebrates, freshwater fish, birds, then mammals.

Among the 39 such species reliant on unprotected areas are the New South Wales subspecies of the thick-billed Grass-wren, Queensland’s Dalveen Blue Box, victims of overgrazing and land clearing, and Western Australia’s Fringed Fire Bush. The latter has a naturally restricted distribution, and has been badly affected by road maintenance works and competition from weeds.  

Dr Jody Gunn, CEO of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA), the peak body for private land conservation, says: “It’s so important to have a clear picture of exactly which species are teetering on the edge – those with very small ranges, or restricted to a single area of private land.”

Ward agrees, adding that protecting and managing the habitats of these narrow-range species should be a high priority in local, state and national conservation policy.

“It is critical that Australian, state and territory governments properly fund the implementation of well-developed management plans. The National Farmers Federation has consistently called on the Australian Government to make a serious start in tackling this problem,” says Jochinke.

“Our case study serves as a template for the identification of important habitat for threatened species and could be applied in other regions of the world,” concludes Ward.

The paper ‘Half of the habitat for Australia’s highly imperilled narrow-range species is outside protected areas’ is published in Biological Conservation.

Endangered species