Founded | 17 January 1986 |
---|---|
Founder | Steve Brown Barry Scott |
Focus | Long-term conservation of the wild koala |
Location |
|
Method | Research, education, legislation, mopping and planning |
Key people | Deborah Tabart, OAM |
Website | www.savethekoala.com |
The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) is registered Australian charity created in 1986, [1] dedicated to the effective management and conservation of the koala and its habitat. [2] It is the principal non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to the conservation and effective management of the wild koala and its habitat. [2]
The AKF lobbies the federal and state governments on issues it sees as pertinent to the conservation of koalas, including around the Sunshine Coast, [3] [4] and central Queensland. [5]
In 2020 the AFK claimed the federal government was wasting time and resources on research at the expense of habitat conservation. [6]
In 2016 and 2019 the AFK declared that koalas were "functionally extinct", [7] [8] but those claims were subsequently challenged as untrue. [9] [10] The claim in May 2019 by the AKF that Australia's koala population was as low as 80,000 animals was challenged by reports that the true population could be more than 300,000. [11]
In 2019 the AKF expressed grave concerns over the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, claiming it did not go far enough to protect koalas. [12]
The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season had a devastating impact on koala habitat and populations. Chairman of the AKF, Deborah Tabart, estimated that over 1,000 koalas were killed and that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed. [13] [14]
The AFK has lobbied for a specific federal koala protection act, [15] akin to the United States' Bald Eagle Endangered Species Act, which has protected its fauna emblem, the bald eagle, since 1973. [16]
The AKF created "Save the Koala month", held annually each September, to raise funds for its work. [17]
The AFK has been subject to severe criticism from other koala conservationists for not doing enough to protect koalas. [18]
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the mainland's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, spoon-shaped nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm (24–33 in) and weighs 4–15 kg (9–33 lb). Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate subspecies, but this is disputed.
The Nightcap National Park is a national park situated within the Nightcap Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The 8,080-hectare (20,000-acre) park was created in April 1983 and is situated 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Lismore. The national park is classed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas as Category II and is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007.
Conservation in Australia is an issue of state and federal policy. Australia is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, with a large portion of species endemic to Australia. Preserving this wealth of biodiversity is important for future generations.
Leadbeater's possum is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine ash, mountain ash, and snow gum forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne. It is primitive, relict, and non-gliding, and, as the only species in the petaurid genus Gymnobelideus, represents an ancestral form. Formerly, Leadbeater's possums were moderately common within the very small areas they inhabited; their requirement for year-round food supplies and tree-holes to take refuge in during the day restricts them to mixed-age wet sclerophyll forest with a dense mid-story of Acacia. The species was named in 1867 after John Leadbeater, the then taxidermist at the Museum Victoria. They also go by the common name of fairy possum. On 2 March 1971, the State of Victoria made the Leadbeater's possum its faunal emblem.
The regent honeyeater is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive effects on many other species that share its habitat. Recent genetic research suggests it is closely related to the wattlebirds.
Threatened species are any species which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of critical depensation, a mathematical measure of biomass related to population growth rate. This quantitative metric is one method of evaluating the degree of endangerment.
Phascolarctos is a genus of marsupials with one extant species, the koala Phascolarctos cinereus, an iconic animal of Australia. Several extinct species of the genus are known from fossil material, these were also large tree dwellers that browsed on Eucalyptus leaves.
The term Southern Australia is generally considered to refer to the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of latitude 26° south — a definition widely used in law and state government policy — is also usually included.
Handfish are any anglerfish within the family Brachionichthyidae, a group which comprises five genera and 14 extant species. These benthic marine fish are unusual in the way they propel themselves by walking on the sea floor rather than swimming.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999(Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places. Enacted on 17 July 2000, it established a range of processes to help protect and promote the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and preserve significant places from decline. The Act is as of June 2020 administered by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Lists of threatened species are drawn up under the Act, and these lists, the primary reference to threatened species in Australia, are available online through the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).
Functional extinction is the extinction of a species or other taxon such that:
The Western barred bandicoot, also known as the Marl, is a small species of bandicoot; now extinct across most of its former range, the western barred bandicoot only survives on offshore islands and in fenced sanctuaries on the mainland.
The Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, is an act of the Parliament of Tasmania that provides the statute relating to conservation of flora and fauna. Its long title is An Act to provide for the protection and management of threatened native flora and fauna and to enable and promote the conservation of native flora and fauna. It received the royal assent on 14 November 1995.
The Bald Hills Wind Farm is an operating wind farm located approximately 10 km south east of Tarwin Lower in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The Bald Hills Wind Farm site covers approximately 1,750ha of largely cleared cattle and sheep grazing farmland. The turbines are located in three distinct areas, one to the west and one to the east of Tarwin Lower Waratah Road, and one near the end of Bald Hills Road.
Land clearing in Australia describes the removal of native vegetation and deforestation in Australia. Land clearing involves the removal of native vegetation and habitats, including the bulldozing of native bushlands, forests, savannah, woodlands and native grasslands and the draining of natural wetlands for replacement with agriculture, urban and other land uses.
Deborah Tabart, OAM is an Australian environmentalist. She is the CEO of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF). She has worked with this organisation since 1988 and is known internationally as the Koala Woman.
The Carmichael coal mine is a coal mine in Queensland, Australia which produced its first shipment of coal in December 2021.
The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season or Black Summer was a period of bushfires in many parts of Australia, which, due to its unusual intensity, size, duration, and uncontrollable dimension, is considered a megafire. In June 2019, it was predicted that an early start to the bushfire season, which usually begins in August, may have been possible due to exceptionally dry conditions, a lack of soil moisture and early fires in Central Queensland. Throughout the summer, hundreds of fires burnt, mainly in the southeast of the country. The major fires peaked during December 2019 to January 2020.
The southern greater glider, also known as the southern and central greater glider, is a species of large gliding marsupial native to the forests of southeastern Australia. It is a vulnerable species per the IUCN Red List classification, but since 5 July 2022 is listed as endangered under the EPBC Act in Australia. The main threats to its survival are climate change and logging.