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Land clearing in NSW could see the number of mammal species in the state being halved, a report co-authored by the University of Sydney's Professor Chris Dickman warns.
More than 104 million native mammals, birds and reptiles have died or will die as a result of the NSW land clearing between 1998 and 2005, according to the report, released by the World Wildlife Fund today.
It is the first time the impact of vegetation clearing on wildlife numbers in NSW has been calculated. A total of 639,930 hectares of land clearing approvals were granted in NSW between 1998 and 2005, the report says.
The number of individual animals killed or likely to die as a result of this approved land clearing includes:
- over 11 million mammals with possums and gliders most severely affected, as well as many millions of kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, koalas and wombats;
- around 13 million birds comprising mostly woodland and forest birds and including species of honeyeaters and babblers that are under threat of extinction in NSW; and
- more than 80 million reptiles such as skinks and geckos.
These estimates are highly conservative and do not take into consideration illegal land clearing activities and clearing that is exempt from the approval process, which would add millions more animals to the toll, the WWF said.
The report's authors - Dr Hal Cogger, Professor Chris Dickman and Professor Hugh Ford - warn of dire consequences for the future of species in NSW, with one scenario warning of a reduction in the State's mammal fauna from its original 130 species to just 53 species by 2038.
"It is possible to state categorically that clearing of large areas of vegetation in New South Wales continues through the exemption of non-remnant vegetation, illegal clearing and clearing of so-called invasive native scrub, despite the 2003 commitment to end broadscale land clearing," WWF-Australia's Director of Conservation, Dr Ray Nias, said.
"NSW clearly needs a more effective approach if it is to stop the loss of wildlife threatened by clearing and fragmentation of native vegetation."
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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