States back Plibersek’s pledge for big conservation rollout

An ambitious plan to boost protections for native wildlife is being backed by state governments, with federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek securing support to put 30 per cent of both Australia’s land and sea under conservation by 2030.

A meeting of environment ministers in Brisbane on Friday endorsed the proposal, designed in line with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which would probably require state governments to make controversial purchases of private land.

About 26 per cent of Australia’s landmass is already under conservation. Plibersek’s pledge to protect a further 4 per cent would add 300,000 square kilometres – an area larger than Victoria and Tasmania combined – some of which might need to be bought from farmers and other landholders.

Plibersek has said her goal is to make Australia the “green Wall Street” of the world to get environmental investment flowing by creating a market for so-called biodiversity credits, where private investors are awarded credits for projects that protect important habitats.

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While she did not get a commitment from her state counterparts to deliver that goal, the joint communique said the ministerial council “agreed to work together to make nature-positive investments easier, focusing on a consistent way to measure and track biodiversity”.

Invasive Species Council conservation director James Trezise welcomed the goal to boost the area of land under conservation management and said more government funding was critical to tackle threats to wildlife such as feral cats, which are estimated to kill more than a billion native animals a year.

“Increasing areas under active conservation management is a critically important goal for Australia, but we mustn’t lose sight of existing national parks that are getting hammered by invasive species, whether it’s feral horses in Kosciuszko or feral deer trampling Tasmania’s world heritage areas,” he said.

Plibersek has pledged to halt Australia’s extinction crisis and end losses of native wildlife species. The ministerial council “agreed to accelerate work towards zero new extinctions”.