‘Historic win’: Australian state approves national koala park despite controversial funding.
New South Wales lawmakers passed legislation on Oct. 23 creating the Great Koala National Park, which adds 178,000 hectares of state forest to protected land, though its carbon credit funding drew criticism.
The parliament of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, passed legislation on Oct. 23 to create the Great Koala National Park on the state's Mid North Coast. Conservation and community groups, which had campaigned for more than a decade, welcomed the vote. It came 10 days after Premier Chris Minns tabled the bill. The park was a key 2023 election promise of the state Labor Party.
The park is slated to open before the end of 2026. It will fold 178,000 hectares (440,000 acres) of state forests, mostly earmarked for native timber harvesting, and other government land into the existing national park estate. The resulting protected area will span 475,000 hectares (1.2 million acres). According to the report, it will shelter 12,000 koalas and more than 100 other threatened species, including southern greater gliders, glossy black cockatoos and rare spider orchids.
The Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti people, who helped shape the park, will continue to guide its management, according to the NSW government. Eight Aboriginal rangers will be employed through community-controlled organizations, and some park roles will be identified for Aboriginal people.
The koala was declared endangered in NSW in 2022. Mongabay reports that numbers fell by a third between 1990 and 2010, and that the 2019-2020 bushfires are estimated to have killed 71% of the remaining koalas on the northern coast. A 2020 parliamentary inquiry warned that the species, now at around 274,000 in the state, could disappear from NSW by 2050.
The funding model drew criticism. The state set aside AU$140 million ($98.5 million) to establish the park, but long-term funding will largely come from carbon credits generated under the state's Improved Native Forest Management method, a first for Australia. Critics, including a think tank and a community group, objected to tying conservation to a carbon offset scheme. Several attempts to amend the scheme were voted down. Some conservationists and the Greens accepted it as the cost of getting the park approved. Grahame Douglas of the National Parks Association called it "not ideal," but a practical way of moving out of native forest logging.
Some conservationists also questioned the inclusion of regional parks, about 17% of the total, that accommodate groups such as car and mountain bike clubs. A last-minute amendment removed five of around 10 regional parks from the motorsport provision. Groups said they would keep pushing to protect areas left out, including Pine Creek and Tuckers Nob State Forests.
At a Glance
- NSW parliament passed the Great Koala National Park legislation on Oct. 23, 10 days after the bill was tabled.
- The park adds 178,000 hectares of state forest, creating a 475,000-hectare protected area.
- The state committed AU$140 million ($98.5 million) to establish the park, with long-term funding largely from carbon credits.
- The area is home to an estimated 12,000 koalas and more than 100 other threatened species.
- Eight Aboriginal rangers will be employed through community-controlled organizations.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.