Growing $157 billion problem Australia can't afford to fix: 'A lot to be saved'

Stopping dozens of species from going extinct before our children reach adulthood could be impossible without major changes.

A baby looking out of a plane window at cleared land below.
Flying over Australia, it’s possible to see thousands of hectares of wilderness that's been destroyed, placing the country's native species in peril. Source: Michael Dahlstrom

The cost of preventing the extinction of just 99 rare species so they can be enjoyed by future generations would cost Australia $15.6 billion per year for 30 years, according to new research by Griffith University. Recovering their populations to the point they could be entirely removed from the threatened species list would likely be $157.7 billion per year.

Clearly, no Australian government is likely to spend anything like that on protecting its native animals, even though it will mean the slow demise of dozens of species. The cost would be more than triple Labor's record defence spending commitment of $55.68 billion over the current financial year.

The nature-saving estimates were released in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia (WWF-Australia) as part of an investigation into the cost of the federal government’s plan to reverse the decline of 110 priority species facing extinction. That program has received $12 million to date, which is part of a wider $500m threatened species funding promise.

“That means our estimates are far greater than what the government has committed,” Griffith University scientist Dr Michelle Ward told Yahoo News.

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Related: Aussie state where future generations will only see iconic wildlife in zoos

Burned bush and road signs in Australia after a bushfire.
As the world continues to increase its burning of fossil fuels, warming the planet and triggering extreme weather, increased spending will not be able to prevent the extinction of some species. Source: Michael Dahlstrom

The 99 animals that were the focus of the study are just a fraction of Australia’s total threatened species. The current federal list sits at over 2,000 plants and animals. To begin turning this rapidly escalating problem around, Ward believes increased funding and personal philanthropy are part of the solution.

But sadly, the team found all the money in the world would be unable to stop declines in 16 per cent of the 99 species they analysed. Dominating this list are freshwater fish and amphibians like the swan galaxias and mountain frog.

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“That was one of the most shocking results, that there was irreversible damage. They could not be removed from the threatened species list due to extensive historical declines, from pervasive, unmanageable, and ongoing threats like climate change,” Ward said.

We in Australia have some of the most unique mammals, birds, plants and amphibians. I think there's a lot still left to be saved and our unique biodiversity is deserving of that funding.Dr Michelle Ward

WWF-Australia’s Dr Romola Stewart said it was “disappointing” that the Albanese Government had been unable to follow through on its election promise to create new nature protection laws. It’s been close to five years since Professor Graeme Samuel conducted an independent review of Commonwealth laws designed to protect threatened wildlife and found they were “ineffective”, “weak” and “tokenistic”.

“We are accumulating the cost of this indecision and lack of action,” Stewart told Yahoo. “The World Economic Forum found biodiversity loss is one of the most significant risks over the next decade, and around 50 per cent of global GDP is dependent on nature. This is really about setting Australia up for the future.”

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Ward believes the key takeaway from their analysis is that its expensive to repair the environment, so strong regulation is urgently needed to stop it being destroyed.

Stewart agrees, “Quite simply, as the numbers show, Australia can’t afford what it costs to repair it,” she said.

Although it's widely known that koalas will likely be extinct in the wild across NSW and much of Queensland unless habitat clearing is drastically reduced, there are many species of fish, frog, bird and mammal set to be wiped out before most people have ever heard of them.

Here is a short list created by Griffith University that highlights the names of imperilled species likely to be extinct across Australia in 20 years:

  • Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko

  • Lyons grassland striped skink

  • New Guinea Painted turtle

  • Herald Petrel

  • Norfolk Island Morepork

  • Grey Range Thick-billed Grasswren

  • Houtman Abrolhos Painted Buttonquail

  • Armoured Mist Frog

  • Neglected frog

  • Elegant frog

  • Black-tailed dusky antechinus

  • Kakadu pebble-mouse

  • Northern brush-tailed phascogale

  • Top End Nabarlek

  • Barrow Cave Gudgeon

  • Daintree Rainbowfish

  • Dalhousie catfish

  • Dalhousie goby

  • Dalhousie hardyhead

  • Dalhousie mogurnda

  • Dargo Galaxias

  • East Gippsland Galaxias

  • Flathead galaxies

  • Hunter Galaxias

  • Kosciuszko Galaxias

  • Malanda Rainbowfish

  • McDowall's Galaxias

  • Moroka Galaxias

  • Morwell Galaxias

  • Running River Rainbowfish

  • SE Vic Blackfish

  • Shaw Galaxias

  • Short-tailed Galaxias

  • Slender carp gudgeon

  • SW Vic Blackfish

  • Tapered Galaxias

  • West Gippsland Galaxias

  • Yalmy Galaxias

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