Our threatened species list has major gaps - Biodiversity Council calls for more resourcing to assess species at risk of extinction

The Biodiversity Council is calling for more resourcing to scale up the processing of threatened species assessments and nominations to get through a backlog of species that are likely to be at risk of extinction but are not yet listed or receiving protection or attention.

Biodiversity Council Co-Chief Councillor Professor Hugh Possingham at The University of Queensland said that an accurate threatened species list is essential to guide effective conservation strategies and investments.

“It is of course sad that the population numbers of many uniquely Australian species have declined to the point that they are now considered at risk of extinction. But recognising their plight and adding them to our national list of threatened species is essential to do better for these species."

“Listing species under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act affords them greater legal protection and visibility and will hopefully also attract new action to conserve them.

“Every Australian Government over the last decade has committed to preventing extinctions and recovering threatened species. Having an accurate threatened species list to guide conservation strategies and decisions is essential to achieving this. It is also one of our obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

“The existing listing assessment process is resource intensive. At the moment we are concerned that not enough resourcing is going to assessments, and as such we are seeing far fewer species being added to the list than are actually at risk.

“The Finalised Priority Assessment List (FPAL) is the shortlist of species that will get an assessment. Many more species need to be added to that list to catch up with the backlog of unassessed species. It is really important that there is adequate resourcing by the Australian Government to do this work.

“It is possible for them to upscale this work. Following the 2019-20 Black Summer fires the Australian Government contracted expert assessment panels to identify native species and ecological communities that would meet criteria as threatened and there was a big increase in the number of species and ecological communities being assessed and new conservation documents being written. That work is underpinning many of the species now being added.

“It was made possible by dramatically increased resourcing by the Australian Government at that time, but that extra resourcing ended in 2023, even though hundreds and possibly thousands of species and ecological communities are still at risk.

“Years later, many at-risk species and ecological communities that were identified by those expert processes are also still waiting to be prioritised for national assessment.”

According to a global study in 2023 led by scientists at Western Sydney University, by international standards, Australia performs very poorly in conservation assessments. Only 39% (4 out of 10) of Australia’s unique plant species have had their threats and conservation status assessed. By comparison New Zealand and South Africa have each assessed 87% (almost 9 out of 10) of their unique species

There has also been a bias in which species are being listed and receiving attention. While invertebrates, species without backbones like insects, worms, crabs and octopuses make up most of Australia’s biodiversity, they have received much less attention than other groups.

A recent study led by Charles Darwin University estimated that between 1-3 species of insects and other native invertebrates like worms, snails and spiders, are becoming extinct in Australia every week, and about 9000 have become extinct since European arrival in 1788.

In response, the Biodiversity Council and Invertebrates Australia are calling on federal state and territory governments to increase work to understand, monitor and conserve Australia’s invertebrates.