Nearly 2m hectares of forests suitable for endangered koalas have been destroyed since the iconic species was declared a threatened species in 2011, according to analysis for Guardian Australia.
The scale of habitat destruction in Queensland and New South Wales – states in which the koala is formally recognised as being at risk of extinction – has continued despite political promises it would be protected.
Analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation using state and federal government data found 1,964,200 hectares of koala habitat were cleared between 2012 and 2021, the latest year for which there was complete data.
Analysis shows 1,964,200 hectares of koala habitat was cleared between 2012 and 2021 – 81% of that in Queensland. Illustration: Meeri Anneli
The total amount of destroyed forest and bush covered an area larger than greater Sydney, taking in the Blue Mountains, the Illawarra, the southern highlands and the Goulburn and Shoalhaven regions.
It is more than 10 times larger than the area the NSW government is assessing for a possible “great koala national park”. But most of the cleared area – 81% – was in Queensland.
About three-quarters of the lost forest is estimated to have been cleared for agriculture, to create cattle pasture and crop fields. The analysis found 13% was removed by the forestry industry and 5% for development of infrastructure, including mining. Just 4% was likely due to natural causes, such as bushfire and drought.
Nearly all of the forest destruction occurred on a small scale that did not require consideration under federal environment law. Less than 2% of it was approved by the federal environment minister.
Campaigners say it shows the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – which the Albanese government promised to rewrite in this term before delaying its plans indefinitely – is deeply flawed.
Darcie Carruthers, an Australian Conservation Foundation nature campaigner, said: “It beggars belief that with nearly 2m hectares of potential koala habitat gone in just a decade, the federal government would continue to approve projects that bulldoze koalas’ homes. But that’s exactly what’s happening.”
A separate analysis by the foundation found that almost 3,000 hectares of potential koala habitat were approved for clearing in 2024.
Carruthers said the outsized contribution of the beef industry towards habitat loss showed “the food system can do much more for koalas”.
“There are solutions to make sure people, farms, koalas and the forests we all depend on can all thrive,” she said.
A koala in a tree near Bagotville in northern NSW. Photograph: Aston Brown/The Guardian
Gemma Plesman, a senior campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the data showed the “complete failure” of federal environment laws to protect “Australia’s most iconic” endangered species. “Every year koalas lose more of their home – mostly driven by beef production – and neither of our major parties have been able to stop the destruction,” she said.
Koalas in Queensland, NSW and the Australian Capita Territory were formally listed as being vulnerable to extinction in 2012. In 2022 the threat level was raised to endangered after scientists concluded that numbers were likely to have dropped by half over the previous 20 years.
A more recent national project to better estimate the number of koalas suggested there are between 95,000 and 238,000 in the states where the species is considered endangered and between 129,000 and 286,000 in Victoria and South Australia.
The species faces a host of threats in addition to losing its habitat, including the climate crisis and disease. Dr Christine Hosking, a conservation scientist at the University of Queensland who has researched how the climate emergency will shrink the koala’s habitat, said the threat was “playing out now in real time”.
“Areas of New South Wales and Queensland have seen big reductions [in koala numbers] and that’s been down to protracted droughts and heatwaves,” she said. “Koala’s can’t thermoregulate above about 37C and we now get successive days above that [as well as] days over 40C in a row. They simply can’t survive.”
Hosking’s research shows that as temperatures rise the koala’s habitat in Queensland and NSW contracts eastward, pushing them into already developed areas where they face other risks such as vehicles and dog attacks.
A University of Sydney study in February on one of the country’s few chlamydia-free koala populations – located in south-western Sydney – found urban development had effectively isolated the population, leading to high levels of in-breeding that made the species more susceptible to disease.
“We’re losing koalas for complex reasons,” Hosking said. “Habitat loss is the No 1 threat because they’re so limited in what they can eat, but then you have roads, urbanisation, chlamydia and, of course, climate change.”
Prof Mathew Crowther, a conservation biologist and koala ecologist at the University of Sydney, said the marsupial’s specialised diet – eucalyptus leaves – put it in conflict with humans.
Eucalyptus trees that grow on flatter, more fertile soils generally produce leaves higher in nutrients and lower in toxins. But those flat, fertile soils are where humans like to settle and grow food. “Koalas and people want the same kind of land,” Crowther said.
He said national parks tended to be in more rugged country, which was not the koala’s preferred habitat. Many live outside national parks on private land.
“We need to make sure there’s enough habitat that is linked together, we need to make sure regrowth and plantings are allowed to happen and we have to give incentives for landholders,” he said.
“We MUST respect this earth - it is all we have
Claudio Dametto - South Australia
“I will always Vote to Preserve Our World.
Liam McGregor - Western Australia
“A simple message that even a politician can understand
Felicity Crombach - Victoria
“Please show you care about our future generations!!
Phil Harmer - New South Wales
“Save our world , Life & health before profits.
Kerry Lillian - New South Wales
“Close down all coal mines and Do not mine gas . Make these Companies
Daniel Johnson - New South Wales
“We want carbon free energy!
Edan Clarke - New South Wales
“Feels good to be taking a voter action step
Beaver Hudson - New South Wales
“Great Initiative. Let’s Hold elected officials Accountable to their bosses, us!
John Paul Posada - New South Wales
“We need actions not words we need honest democratic govt We need a pm
Bob Pearce - South Australia
“Thank you for this great resource. I was feeling helpless. Even this small step
Silvia Anderson - Victoria
“If political parties continue receiving political donations, we will rarely have politicians working for
Dan Chicos - New South Wales
“I only vote for people who will take urgent action to restore a safe
Susie Burke - Victoria
“Current government is not representing the opinion of the majority of Australian to meet
Neil Price - Tasmania
“We are fighting to rescue our kids' future from those who seek to steal
Vanessa Norimi - Queensland
“No time to waste Now or Never My vote is for NOW
Rosalie White - Victoria
“I am only 9 but I already care
Ava Bell - New South Wales
“From New Lambton Uniting Church - Caring for our world is a moral imperative.
Niall McKay - New South Wales
“Our federal govt is an International climate Embarrassment - its about time they stepped
Oriana Tolo - Victoria
“Vote earth this time!
Sue Cooke - Queensland
“We are in one on the wealthiest countries in the world. we have the
rowan huxtable - New South Wales
“The climate Emergency is the public health opportunity and urgent priority of the 21st
Mike Forrester - Victoria
“If they want my vote they better act now
Barbara McNiff - New South Wales
“We need to act locally now for the earth. Our only home. Vote Earth
Anne Miller - New South Wales
“I often look at the places I've known all my life and see how
Jim Baird - New South Wales
“Strike one For people power!!! Democracy might prevail outside the current cronyism that faces
Lorraine Bridger - New South Wales
“Our federal politicians Are Afraid to make action on climate change a major election
Jennifer Martin - New South Wales
“climate election, let's go!
Fahimah Badrulhisham - New South Wales
“Great to see this website that is a focus on action for climate change
Lynette Sinclair - New South Wales
“Let’s show politicians and the Murdoch media that climate change is by far the
Jane Aitken - Australian Capital Territory
“If you want to stay in power You need to take action to stop
Jane Bulter - New South Wales
“We are all that stands between terminal climate change and the vulnerable. We are
Carol Khan - Queensland
“We need a Government that Believes this is real and not taking money from
Ken Gray - New South Wales
“I'm voting for my childrens future
Anneliese Alexander - New South Wales