What is the importance of having national parks for protecting koalas?
National parks – and other types of protected habitat – are a great concept and can be very important for small pockets of habitat and wildlife. In Australia, however, only a tiny fraction of habitats are lucky enough to have this protection. These parks tend to be the more rugged and unusual areas less suitable for agriculture – whereas koalas prefer the same fertile lands that people like for agriculture and urban development. Many national parks are small and isolated much like ‘islands’, suffer declining health (eg. weed invasion) and ‘trap’ koalas in. Eighty percent of koala habitat is situated on privately-owned land (eg. farmland), not in national parks. This is why the AKF wants legislation that will prevent people from cutting down habitat on their land and provide incentives for them to protect and manage habitat for koalas and other wildlife. To support our efforts to ensure there is adequate and effective legislation to protect koala habitat, click here.
