Over the years, poor land management, such as land clearing and over-grazing, has had a devastating impact on the survival of many species of plants and animals in Australia. How we use the land in future needs to be seriously considered or we risk losing many of our unique and endangered species like the Mountain Pygmy Possum.
In the last 50 years, extinction rates are accelerating more than at any other time in history. Recent studies have shown that in Australia 44% of native plants and 30% of native vertebrate species are thought to be extinct, threatened or vulnerable to extinction. For example, an increase of just 1°C in temperature will wipe out 50% of Far North Queensland’s highland rainforest habitats. It's expected that up to 37% of our native species could be extinct by 2050.
As sea temperatures continue to rise, national treasures like the Great Barrier Reef could be reduced to seaweed in just 20 years. Up to 50% of coral has already been bleached in certain inshore locations in the southern Great Barrier Reef. In effect, the coral has died and will not be able to rejuvenate.
[Source: Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies]
Similarly, the Australian Sea Lion is under significant threat from warming waters, which makes them more susceptible to disease, threatens their island and mainland breeding sites, and degrades their main source of food, plankton.
Along our coastlines wetland based migratory birds such as the Shorebird are also at risk of losing their habitats. As the climate warms wetland areas dry up and some species of Shorebird may be forced to alter their migration to reach more suitable habitats. Shorebirds may even stop migrating all together.
The Macquarie Perch is another endangered species which was originally widespread through the more midland-upland streams and rivers in the south-east corner of the Murray-Darling Basin. As the flow of these river systems is interrupted, primary feeding areas such as the Upper Murray region now have been greatly reduced.
