Why does Australia need a new National Biodiversity Strategy?
Australia is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) www.cbd.int. The CBD requires parties to develop a National Biodiversity Strategy. The 1996 strategy is now over ten years old and the social, environmental and economic context in which it was first developed has shifted significantly. A new strategy is needed to ensure we meet the challenge of conserving Australia’s biodiversity into the future. Australia is one of the most biologically diverse countries on the planet. In a global comparison, Australia has: • More species of higher (vascular) plants than 94 per cent of all countries; • More mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians than 95 per cent of all countries; • More species of mammals than 93 per cent of all countries; • More birds than 79 per cent of all countries; and • More amphibians than 95 per cent of all countries. Despite the fundamental importance of biodiversity to our global well-being, natural systems are being degraded and ecosystems, species and g
