2020-01-16 OM Agenda - Item 1 - Attachment 1 - Draft SEQ Koala Conservation Strategy 2019-2024

                                                         DRAFT South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy 2019–2024



Targets
The Queensland Government is committed to                1. Koala habitat
undertaking strong action to address the threats to
                                                         No decline in total area of core koala
koala populations in SEQ, and has set ambitious
                                                         habitat in SEQ from 2017 levels
targets for koala habitat, population trajectories
and threat reduction for the life of this draft
Strategy. This draft Strategy proposes ongoing           2. Koala habitat restoration
monitoring of progress towards the targets,              Commence rehabilitation to restore
which will be reported annually to inform future         1000 ha of cleared habitat
actions. These actions are designed to be scalable
so delivery can be managed subject to funding
availability.
                                                         3. Populations
                                                         No long-term decline in koala population
                                                         numbers in SEQ
1. Koala habitat
The Queensland Government has already made
the commitment of no net loss in koala habitat           4. Threat reduction
in ShapingSEQ South East Queensland Regional             25% reduction of injury and mortality
Plan. The Queensland Government will continue            across ten sites
to monitor koala habitat in accordance with
ShapingSEQ’s target of no net loss in koala habitat
through its Measures that Matter online dashboard.       4. Threat reduction
                                                         The holistic approach provided in this draft
2. Koala habitat restoration                             Strategy recognises that, in order to maintain koala
The Queensland Government proposes to broker             numbers, it is necessary to have a comprehensive
further partnerships to commence rehabilitation          threat mitigation strategy that addresses the
to restore 1000 ha of cleared habitat in KPA             ongoing losses and injury to koalas from vehicles,
in SEQ over the life of the Strategy. This will          dogs and disease. To address the impacts of
support existing investment by the Queensland            vehicle strikes, the target is to reduce koala injury
Government, which is already investing $2 million        and mortality by 25% across 10 key road threat
into establishing a five-year partnership agreement      hotspots in SEQ, where threat mitigation measures
with the Queensland Trust for Nature to deliver          are implemented, within the life of the Strategy.
on-ground koala habitat restoration in KPA. The          Risk modelling and assessment, together with
estimated area of restoration is based on available      input from local landholders, will identify key sites.
funding.                                                 Other targets for threat reduction may be set, after
                                                         a comprehensive threat map and threat mitigation
                                                         program has been developed.
3. Koala population
To meet the vision of the Strategy, it is necessary      The following sections provide an overview of
to ensure that koala populations in SEQ are healthy      the strategies and actions that the government
and persist across a variety of landscapes within        proposes to undertake to meet the targets and
the region. The Strategy sets out a clear plan           implement the recommendations of the Koala
to address the ongoing decline, however that             Expert Panel.
reversal will be difficult to achieve within the life
of the Strategy, and some short-term declines may
remain. There has been no comprehensive study
undertaken to determine the exact numbers of
koalas in SEQ in recent years, so further surveys will
be needed to set the target of no long-term decline
in koala population density at key, representative
monitoring sites across SEQ.
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