Jonathan Rhodes, University of Queensland

When you put a lot of people in places where koalas hang out, the two rarely mix well. South East Queensland (SEQ) is just such a place. The region is the most densely populated part of Queensland, with over 3.5 million people, but just by chance, it is also home to some of the most significant koala populations in the State. Unsurprisingly, as urban development has expanded to accommodate more people, we have seen a rapid decline in koalas in many areas, including local extinctions. Koalas are threatened by habitat loss, dog attacks, vehicle collisions, and disease and it is often combinations of these acting together that drive local koala population declines. As we move towards an expected human population increase to 5.3 million people in SEQ over the next 25 years, this situation could well deteriorate further unless we find effective policy, planning, and management solutions for koala conservation.

In 2008, as a result of declining koala populations, the State Government announced a set of new initiatives in response to recommendations from a “Koala Task Force”. These responses included commitments to map koala habitat, introduce a new State Planning Regulatory Provision, and achieve a net gain in koala habitat across SEQ by 2020. Yet, despite the implementation of many of  these measures a study of ours in 2015 showed little sign of a slow-down in koala declines (e.g., up to an 80% decline over 20 years in some areas), with some indication that the rate of decline may have even accelerated. In response to this evidence, the then Queensland Environment Minister, Steven Miles, appointed a new independent panel to review the limitations of the current policy and provide recommendations to the State Government for a new policy direction for conserving koalas in SEQ. The Panel consisted of myself (as Chair), Antra Hood (MinterEllison), Alistair Melzer (Central Queensland University), Al Mucci (Dreamworld), and brought together expertise in koala ecology, conservation science, koala population management, planning law, and policy.

Koalas populations within South East Queensland are declining due to a number of threatening processes, including habi-tat loss, dog attacks, vehicle collisions and diseases. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Panel’s approach was to first review the existing policies through policy analysis and wide-ranging consultation with stakeholders across the general public, industry, NGOs, and governments. Then to make new evidence-based recommendations to the State Government for better conserving koalas in SEQ. The review highlighted a number of key factors contributing to the failure to halt the decline in koalas is SEQ. These included: (1) a lack of strategic approach to koala conservation, (2) an over-reliance on the planning framework that addresses future threats, but does not address existing threats, (3) where planning regulation does address koala habitat protection it is too limited in scope, (4) inadequate habitat mapping, and (5) a lack of coordination to tackle multiple threating processes. The Panel’s detailed recommendations to the State Government to address these deficiencies were released in 2017 and cover six key areas ranging from coordination, to habitat protection and threat management, to monitoring and evaluation. At the core of the Panel’s recommendations is the identified need for a more collaborative approach among governments, industry, and the community to koala conservation and a more coordinated and strategic approach to habitat protection and threat reduction. The State Government have accepted the majority of the Panel’s recommendations and are currently in the process of developing a new koala conservation strategy in response.

After many attempts to develop effective policy for koala conservation in SEQ with limited success, why should it be any different this time? With an extra 2 million people expected to be living in SEQ in 25 years’ time, urban development is not going to stop and so completely eliminating further habitat loss is going to be difficult, both from a political and economic point of view. Add to this that many threats associated with existing urban development are already present and are now very difficult to remove. The Panel’s recommendations make it clear that, under these conditions, we must take a much more strategic approach to prioritise koala populations where there is a good change of ensuring their long-term persistence. The proposed SEQ Strategic Assessment under the EPBC Act may help with this by identifying key strategic priority areas for koalas and other threatened species. If so, this would be a step in the right direction and suggests things could be different this time around. Yet, this would still require strengthening of regulation to protect koala habitat and a new coordinated investment in threat reduction strategies. In the Panel’s Final Report we also make a big deal of ensuring a coordinated response across governments, industry, and the community to address koala conservation. The setting up of a Ministerial Koala Advisory Council to facilitate this coordination and communication across governments, industry, and conservation NGOs is a good sign that a mechanism may be in place to achieve this. There have only been two meetings of the Koala Advisory Council so far, but I sense that there is a real desire to work together towards better outcomes for koalas. This is encouraging, and again, could indicate things will be different this time around.

Only time will tell if this process is the catalyst for effectively protecting koalas in SEQ. I have been impressed with the relative openness of the process and the desire of stakeholders to work together, so that is a good sign. As always, the devil is in the detail and until we see the overall strategy that emerges it is difficult to gauge whether it will likely succeed or not. Yet, my view is that, if this new direction for koala conservation is to be successful it must be serious about strategically prioritising areas where the long-term persistence of koalas can realistically be achieved. The alternative is a gradual accumulation of koala local extinctions right across the region until it is too late.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly the personal views of the author. ¤