Australia’s at-risk wildlife and places missing in global protection promise: halfway to 2030 national review

Australia will fall short of its promise to protect 30 per cent of the continent by 2030 unless it significantly increases funding to create protected areas on private land and in places where threatened native species have little to no protection at all.

A national review at the halfway point of the federal government’s commitment to the United Nation’s 30 by 30 nature goals has found that while millions of hectares of land has been protected, many of the country’s most vulnerable native animals, plants and ecosystems have been overlooked.

In 2022, the Albanese government committed to:

" ... that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of ... areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures ..."

The national review - published today by The Nature Conservancy, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Australian Land Conservation Alliance - found that Australia’s ‘30 by 30’ promise is at risk because of the quality, rather than the quantity, of action. Australia recently passed a major milestone of 25 per cent of the continent secured in protected areas, however the national review found an additional 34.3 million hectares of biodiverse land are needed to protect fragile ecosystems and threatened species habitat.

Key findings of the review include:

• Encouraging progress has been made since 2022, with the country’s protected area network growing from 22 per cent to 25 per cent of the Australian continent.
• At least 34.3 million additional hectares of biodiverse land is now needed to deliver on Australia’s commitment to 30 per cent by 2030.

• Less than 1 per cent of the habitat and migration range of 160 threatened native species, such as the Butler’s Dunnart or Birds Nest Wattle, are protected.

• The entire habitat and migration range of 39 critically endangered species, such as the Grey Range Thick-billed Grasswren or the Lyon’s Grassland Striped Skink, remain outside of the Australia’s protected-area network.

• Twenty-seven of 89 bioregions and 203 of 419 subregions have less than 10 per cent protection.
• Nearly 30 per cent of Australia’s bioregions fall short of the report’s comprehensiveness measure, and more than half of subregions fall short of its representativeness measure.

The $250 million Australian Bushland Program was established in 2025. To date, some $100 million has been committed to projects, but the review authors have urged the government to invest a significant additional funding commitment in the 2027/28 federal budget.

Dr James Fitzsimons, review lead author and Senior Advisor, Global Protection Strategies at The Nature Conservancy:

“The greatest risk now to Australia meeting its promise is not the number of hectares protected, but whether Australia will protect the ecosystems most important for biodiversity.

“We now need to make sure new protected areas reach the species and landscapes that need them most.”

“There are still major gaps in Australia’s protected area network. The next four years must turn commitments and early investment into protection at the scale required. That means not only adding hectares, but protecting the species habitats, ecosystems and landscapes most at risk.”

Paul Sheridan, review author and Project Director at the Pew Charitable Trusts:

“Nature needs 1 per cent of the federal budget - about $5 billion a year - to recover and thrive into the future. That is what the scientific evidence tells us, yet current investment in protecting our natural environment is less than a tenth of what is required.”

“The establishment of the Australian Bushland Program, backed by $250 million over five years, is an important and welcome first step. Australia must now build on that foundation by significantly increasing investment in nature protection.”

The full report can be downloaded.