Environment

Australia announces plan to avoid further species extinction

Sydney, Australia, Oct 4 (EFE).- The Australian government on Tuesday announced a plan that aims to prevent further species extinctions in a country that has lost 100 since 1770.

The plan involves protecting 30 percent of the country’s land and the same percentage of its oceans by 2030.

“By protecting more habitat, we can protect the homes of these precious plants and animals and the landscapes that mean so much to Australians,” Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek told a news conference, announcing the Threatened Species Action Plan: Towards Zero Extinctions.

As part of this plan, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s administration will prioritize the protection of 110 species and 20 places and will invest some AU$224.5 million ($146 million).

Plibersek also revealed that 15 species and the three ecological communities were added to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act list of threatened species.

“We are the mammal extinction capital of the world. We’ve seen around 100 species lost in the time since colonization, and we absolutely have to turn that around. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting the same results,” the minister said.

Australia – home to some 600,000 native species, many of them unique in the world – has one of the highest rates of species decline among developed countries, according to a five-yearly report published by the government in July.

Since 2016, when the previous report was completed, the country has placed more than 200 species of plants and animals, including the koala, on its endangered species list. EFE

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