Wonder land in danger
Andrew Burbidge; 13/10/09
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List highlighting endangered species is becoming Australia’s annual embarrassment. Every year we show up with the worst record in the world for mammal extinctions. We have already lost more than 20 mammals and another eight hold onto a precarious existence on islands off our coast after being extinguished from the mainland. But if we don’t act soon this could get a lot worse. While Australians have stepped up to protect the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and the Tarkine, we are letting slip a region where there has never been a mammal extinction or serious species decline — the North Kimberley. The Kimberley is one of Australia’s 15 biodiversity hot spots. Its isolation and rugged terrain has made it home to 57 species of mammals. Some, such as the scaly-tailed possum and the monjon — Australia’s smallest rock wallaby — exist nowhere else in the world.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/wonder-land-in-danger-20081012-4z3k.html
Tags: Australia, Environment