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Koala Habitat Protection SEPP Controversy: A Response
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Koala Habitat Protection SEPP 2
Koala Habitat Protection SEPP Controversy: A Response
The koala, one of Australia's iconic species, is believed to be at risk f extinction by 2050 largely due to mass land clearing (Kidd, 2020) yet also due to a series of natural catastrophes, including in summer of 2019 (aka Black Summer) where, because of bushfires, 5000 koalas perished (Nguyen, 2020). In response, Koala Habitat Protection SEPP has been proposed. The proposal, coming int light after a great deal of debate and controversy (explained shortly), is, according to Paul Toole, Acting Deputy Premier, about separating “land management and private native forestry from the SEPP so farmers can continue their farming operations without getting weighed down in green tape” (Toole & Stokes, 2020). The proposal also involves protecting 123 tree species “scientifically proven to be critical to koala survival, as habitat and feed source;” refining what “core koala habitat” means (Toole
* Stokes); and, perhaps, more importantly, involving local councils to discuss development plan over a mandatory 28-day period prior to referral to NSW Government for approval (Nguyen).
Given current proposal, Koala SEPP is highly controversial. Indeed, environment stewardship has come to define modern day politics. The rapidly changing climate conditions, coupled by aggressive lobbying and activism to defend natural ecosystems, have pushed issues such as natural habitats and nearly extinct species to fore. In Australia, home to many of world's increasingly under risk of extinction species, has been debating Koala State Environmental Planning Policy as a possible replace for an old one (Nguyen). Intended, at least as NSW Government has proposed, to strike a balance between protecting Koala, projected to go extinct by 2050, to continue to inhabit habitats natural to Australia's iconic animal and rights to farmers and land owners to clear forestry lands for agricultural and urban development and expansion purposes. This makes new proposed policy particularly controversial since supporters (mostly Liberals and environmentalists yet only provisionally) and opponents (most Nationals led by John Barilaro) differ on clear definitions about where and how private forestry and land should be demarcated in order to protect koalas yet also
Koala Habitat Protection SEPP 3
maintain est...