The Australian government appears to be downgrading its biodiversity conservation targets, a peak nature body has warned, based on information in a recent consultation.
Canberra recently wrapped up a round of stakeholder engagement on updating Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2019-30, with the updated draft strategy designed to reflect the country’s contributions to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
It will also include targets that highlight national priorities for addressing biodiversity loss.
When unveiling its Threatened Species Action Plan in 2022 as part of its Nature Positive Plan, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced Australia was setting itself a target of no new extinctions.
However, the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ACLA), the peak body for private land conservation, said in a statement Tuesday that this target had been shifted to what it described as an “ambiguous” goal of “work towards zero new extinctions”.
“It suggests that Australia’s biodiversity conservation efforts are being downgraded,” ACLA CEO Jody Gunn said in the statement.
No new extinctions is a critical pledge, according to Gunn, and other necessary efforts to protect and restore will be at risk of being abandoned if the revised Strategy for Nature is not specific and measurable.
“I was in Montreal at COP15, and witnessed our government proactively negotiating to ensure that a strong global framework to reverse nature loss was secured,” she said.
“To see Australia adopt a weaker set of targets than those at a global level does not reflect the leadership we should expect from a megadiverse and well-resourced country. We can and we must aim higher.”
ACLA’s submission to the consultation described the “work towards zero new extinctions” goal as a “non-target that not only states the status quo ante, but that contains less specificity than previously found in other relevant policy”.
The new goals is one of six priority areas Australian environment ministers agreed to develop national biodiversity targets around.
Other priority areas include protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land and oceans by 2030, tackling the impact of invasive species, and minimising the impact of climate change on nature.
The government’s discussion paper describes the work towards zero new extinctions target as “ambitious, but achievable”.
It sought feedback on where efforts should be focussed to meet this target, what would increase community support for actions to prevent species extinctions, and what organisations were doing to contribute to the target.
ACLA said it supported the government’s six priority areas, but the targets should be revised to be internationally and domestically creditable.
“[ACLA] urges for policy and evidence-driven targets with strategic actions and indicators for each priority area, and for clarity on how all GBF targets will be accounted for in the Strategy for Nature,” the statement said.
The group’s submission said the targets need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timebound.
It also called for an additional priority area to be added to mobilise finance, especially for developing countries.
This would be critically important ahead of the Global Nature Positive Summit, which Australia is hosting later this year, and the leadership role it is expected to play in the Indo-Pacific, ACLA said.
“No government has done more on climate change and the environment than this government, that includes our goal of zero new extinctions,” said a statement to Carbon Pulse from Minister Plibersek.
“That’s why we’re investing over A$500 million to better protect threatened plants and animals and tackle the feral animals and weeds killing our native species,” it added.
“And it’s why we’re fixing the Liberal Party’s broken environment laws – so we better protect the environment and make faster, clearer decisions for business.”
By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com
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