A koala clings to a charred gum tree. Smoke lingers in the air. Below, the forest floor is blackened and bare.
It’s not a memory — it’s the new normal.
Australia’s unique wildlife is under siege. Climate change is no longer a distant danger. It’s the top threat facing our endangered species today.
From koalas to coral reefs, animals across the country are battling extreme heat, rising seas, megafires, and shifting seasons. Many are losing.
More than 1,800 Australian species are officially listed as threatened. According to the State of the Environment Report 2021, climate change now impacts every ecosystem.
Once considered safe, koalas are now endangered in Queensland, New South Wales, and the ACT.
Their forests are drying out. Bushfires are becoming more intense. Food trees are dying from drought or heat stress. And koalas, slow to adapt or move, are being left behind.
“Climate change amplifies every existing threat,” says Dr. Sarah Bekessy of RMIT University. “It’s the firestarter, the floodgate, the heatwave.”
In the oceans, rising temperatures are wreaking havoc.
Marine heatwaves have killed off half the Great Barrier Reef’s corals since the mid-1990s. Mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020 turned huge sections ghost white.
Corals rely on algae for nutrients and colour. When waters heat up, corals expel this algae — and often die within weeks.
“The reef is the rainforest of the sea,” says Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University. “When it dies, everything suffers.”
Thousands of marine species depend on reefs. From clownfish to sea turtles, extinction risk ripples outward.
It’s not just iconic animals in trouble. Entire ecosystems are fraying.
The critically endangered northern corroboree frog, native to the alpine bogs of southeastern Australia, needs cold, wet winters to breed. But snow is melting earlier. Bogs are drying. Eggs are dying.
The eastern curlew, a migratory shorebird, is losing its feeding grounds. Rising sea levels and coastal development are wiping out its wetlands.
In the Kakadu wetlands, saltwater intrusion is killing freshwater plants. Saltwater crocodiles are thriving — but fish, birds, and turtles are disappearing.
A 2020 study in Nature Climate Change found that one in six species could vanish worldwide if global temperatures rise beyond 2°C.
Australia is especially vulnerable. Our ecosystems are isolated and often fragile. Even small shifts in temperature or rainfall can cause population collapse.
Despite the urgency, funding remains patchy.
The Australian Conservation Foundation revealed that recovery funding for threatened species fell by 39% between 2013 and 2018.
Only 39 of Australia’s top 100 endangered species have fully funded recovery plans.
“You can’t save species without tackling climate change,” says Darren Grover of WWF Australia. “We need emissions cuts and on-the-ground recovery — fast.”
There are signs of progress.
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Bushfire recovery grants have helped restore habitats.
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Wildlife corridors are reconnecting fragmented forests.
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Indigenous land management is reintroducing traditional burning and conservation methods.
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Grassroots communities are planting native trees and cleaning up coasts.
The federal government has even pledged “zero extinctions” in national parks — a bold goal, if backed by action.
Climate change is not tomorrow’s threat. It’s today’s reality.
Every delay costs more species. More forests. More reef. More future.
If we act now — and act boldly — we can still protect what makes Australia wild and wonderful.
But the window is closing. Fast.
Links
- General Climate Threats to Australian Wildlife
- Climate change threatens one in six species, study finds
- Koalas listed as endangered across eastern Australia
- WWF: Koalas could be extinct in NSW by 2050
- Half of Great Barrier Reef’s corals dead since 1995
- Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2019
- Climate change threatens alpine frogs
- Sea level rise and eastern curlew habitat loss
- Funding cuts for threatened species recovery
- Only a third of recovery plans fully funded
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