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




Government actions in progress
Achieving the vision of a sustainable koala             2. engaging stakeholders to support the delivery of
population in the wild in SEQ requires a strategic         the Strategy
commitment to the protection and expansion              3. ensuring transparency and accountability in
of koala habitat, and effective threat mitigation          government decision making by monitoring
actions.                                                   progress
The government must be proactive and has already        4. evaluating the outcomes of the Queensland
begun this work, implementing key reforms that will        Government’s monitoring and evaluation
serve as the foundation of future actions:                 program and providing recommendations to
                                                           ensure that government is on track to meet the
• creating a Koala Advisory Council to coordinate,
                                                           targets, and endorsing the associated public
  provide advice and ensure transparency and
                                                           report on changes to koala habitat over time
  accountability
                                                        5. ensuring the long-term agenda for koala
• developing new spatial modelling for koala
                                                           conservation is maintained
  habitat in SEQ
                                                        6. representing the views of stakeholder networks.
• defining Koala Priority Areas (KPA) to identify the
  optimum areas for koala habitat conservation          The KAC is chaired by Mr Mark Townend, former
  and preparing changes to the SEQ planning             Chief Executive Officer, RSPCA Queensland,
  framework to support this.                            and membership includes representatives from
                                                        Queensland Government departments, the Local
The fundamental principle behind the government’s
                                                        Government Association of Queensland, non-
new approach for the delivery of koala conservation
                                                        government organisations and industry.
measures is the coordinated and strategic delivery
of habitat protection, habitat restoration and          The KAC was instrumental in the development of
threat mitigation actions. This approach differs        this draft Strategy, upcoming planning reforms,
from previous strategies, as it directs actions         and will continue to play a pivotal role in koala
and policies to areas where there is the highest        conservation in SEQ throughout the implementation
likelihood of success for koala conservation.           of the final Strategy.


The Koala Advisory Council                              Spatial modelling for koala habitat in SEQ
The formation of the KAC was one of the                 The Queensland Government has developed state-
recommendations made by the KEP and was                 of-the-art koala habitat mapping using advanced
essential to coordinate and provide advice              modelling techniques and its expertise in state-
to government on the development and                    wide, comprehensive vegetation mapping. The new
implementation of this draft Strategy, including        methodology, endorsed by the KEP, integrates a
resourcing requirements, and to ensure                  species distribution model with the Queensland
transparency and accountability in decision making.     Herbarium’s regional ecosystem, mapping and
                                                        validated koala occurrence records, to produce a
The KAC was appointed in 2018 to play a pivotal
                                                        comprehensive map that ranks koala habitat values
role in guiding and coordinating koala conservation
                                                        across SEQ.
effort by providing communication and
collaboration pathways among state government           The new approach uses a set of key biophysical
departments, local governments, community               variables, associated with koala sightings, to
organisations, non-government organisations and         construct a model linked to the regional ecosystem
industry through:                                       mapping.
1. providing advice to government on the                Linking the new koala habitat mapping with the
   preparation and implementation of the draft          government’s existing vegetation and land cover
   Strategy, including continuous improvement           mapping allows the modelling to be updated and
   when the outcomes of the Strategy are evaluated      refined as new data becomes available.



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