Australia Targets "Zero-Extinction" Plan to Save Endangered Species

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Facts

  • On Tuesday, Australia's environmental authorities announced an ambitious "zero-extinction" plan to provide protection and restoration of the country's endangered species and natural places over the next ten years.
  • Despite being one of the world's wealthiest nations, Australia received a poor grade on its protection of animal species. Wildlife habitats have reportedly declined because of events like the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-2020, which saw around 3B animals killed, injured, or displaced.
  • The $145.9M "Threatened Species Action Plan: Towards Zero Extinctions" will reportedly prioritize 110 species and 20 natural habitats where the most action is needed to prevent new extinctions from taking place and promises to preserve at least 30% of Australia's land.
  • While conservationists have cheered the plan, some have concerns that the government is "picking winners" by prioritizing certain species when nearly 2k species are listed as threatened based on national laws.
  • The State of the Environment 2021 report — released this July — found that the country has lost more mammal species than any other continent. The previous Coalition government decided not to release the report ahead of May's election, with speculation that the report's content was so dire they feared they would lose the looming election.
  • Australia has designated Sept. 7 as National Threatened Species Day to raise awareness of plants and species at risk of extinction. New South Wales has warned that species extinction is not just an Australian problem and has said 1M species will face extinction globally in the coming decades.

Sources: DW, Al Jazeera, Guardian, CNN, and Voa

Narratives

  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Guardian. While it's about time Australia joins other developed nations in their conservation efforts, this new plan is lacking. It boasts an impressive zero-extinction goal but provides little direction on how to get there and dismally overlooks many of the country's more than 1.9k endangered species. It remains to be seen what this plan will actually achieve.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Voa. This is promising news for the conservation and preservation community. While, admittedly, this only scratches the surface, the plan is a great first step in addressing Australia's endangered species and will pave the way to greater solutions.