Wildlife Australia Magazine Wildlife Australia Magazine Summer 2020 Back Issue

ALL USEFUL DISCUSSIONS about climate change, and the many activities of humanity that endanger wildlife species, eventually come back to habitat.
This edition of Wildlife Australia proclaims that fact.
Beyond pollution and emissions, the most unstoppable form of human impact on habitat in Australia seems to be clearing for property development. Once such clearing is witnessed, and in spite of the social outrage it often generates, it is too late. Wildlife is either dead or soon will be.
Human bad habits in the natural world create bad habitats. With the focus on important issues like climate change, are we guilty of overlooking the fundamentals of habitat protection?
Wildlife Queensland president Peter Ogilvie thinks so, as he highlights the key conservation roles Australia’s national parks have played in the past and – with some critical oversight – should continue into the future. He also offers a warning about how some of Australia’s national parks may be falling prey to economic and market forces.
In related news, CSIRO research now shows some 100 Australian eucalypt species are threatened – something once unthinkable. So are 22 native fish species, according to the Threatened Species Recovery Hub.
Yet the habitat fightback is there from environmental organisations, including Wildlife Queensland’s own Wildlife Land Trust Ltd, as explained by Des Boyland. This edition also offers an assessment of what can be done to help mitigate climate change for wildlife from Dr Ronda Green, plus recent discoveries of new Great Barrier Reef coral species by James Cook University.
These are encouraging stories for wildlife enthusiasts. Although the best way to cope with habitat destruction is surely – like a car accident – to avoid it happening in the first place.