Thread by @__brodysmith

One year on from NSWs parliamentary inquiry into #koala populations, the findings are even more pressing.

Launching today, an interactive summary of the inquiry: koalas.fyi

Key points in the thread below 👇

The inquiry committee included Liberal, Labor, Nats, AJP and Greens members. They found habitat loss and fragmentation was THE critical threat. Koalas are suffering a "death by a thousand cuts" through ongoing land development, logging, agricultural land clearing & mine sites.

Nobody knows exactly how many koalas are left in NSW. Counting is hard and collection isn't standardised. But there is growing pressure to elevate koalas from vulnerable to endangered status after ¼ of the state's best koala habitat was scorched in the 2019–20 bushfires.

Koalas do a hell of a lot for our economy – contributing $1.1B–2.5B towards annual GDP. NSW has committed $44.7M to a koala strategy, which sounds like a lot, but looks like this when compared to the annual national revenue koalas add.

The inquiry made 42 recommendations. We wanted to know if any could (a) protect vast and connected koala habitat quickly (b) without burdening private landowners while (c) boosting the state economy? We think yes – "Investigate the establishment of a Great Koala National Park"

The Great Koala National Park would spread across Coffs hinterland – over World Heritage rainforests, wild rivers, NSWs tallest trees, and 40% of NSW’s best koala habitat in state forest. The proposal includes extensive facilities and tracks for walkers, riders and 4WDs.

Alannah Milton and I created koalas.fyi to make the important conclusions from the inquiry more accessible to more people. Explore the full interactive and please pass it on!

The full inquiry report is here: parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inq…

@greencate @katieqs @MarkPearsonMP @ButtigiegMark @BenFranklinNats @ShayneMallard @PennySharpemlc thank you all for doing your part on the inquiry committee