2.4 OUR BIODIVERSITY IS UNDER PRESSURE Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation from clearing and land uses, invasive plants and animals, climate change and altered bushfire and hydrological regimes have pushed biodiversity and natural systems into decline and undermined the services they provide. The MidCoast region has experienced, and is still experiencing, this decline. Australia has been a major contributor to biodiversity loss and has experienced the largest documented decline in biodiversity of any continent over the past 200 years13. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Australia is one of seven countries responsible for more than half of global biodiversity loss and is ranked second in the world for ongoing species extinction behind Indonesia (based on the number of native species that had their status changed to threatened, vulnerable or endangered since 1996)14. Since European settlement, more than 50 species of Australian animals have become extinct, including 27 mammal species, 23 bird species and 4 frog species. 48 Australian plants are officially recognised as being extinct15. Australia’s rate of species decline continues to be among the world’s highest, and is the highest in the OECD, the group of 30 western democratic nations16. The Australian Government recently concluded that Australia’s biodiversity had declined further since 2011 and new approaches were needed to address this downward trajectory for many species17. 13. Department of Environment and Energy (2017) Biodiversity conservation (weblink) Canberra: Australian Government. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/conservation, Accessed 16 March 2020. 14. Waldron, A., Miller, D., Redding, D. et al. (2017) Reductions in global biodiversity loss predicted from conservation spending. Nature 551, 364–367 15. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2000) Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 16. Platt, J. R. (2013) Can You Guess Which Country Has the Most Endangered Species? Scientific American. 17. State of the Environment 2011 Committee. Australia state of the environment 2011. Independent report to the Australian Government Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Canberra: DSEWPaC, 2011
MidCoast Council: Biodiversity Framework 2021-2030 (section 1 of 4)
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