Australia doing ‘very poorly’ at protecting unique plants, researchers warn

Study finds only 39% of unique species have had threats and status assessed – less than half of New Zealand’s

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More than half of Australia’s unique plants have not been assessed to determine whether they are at risk of extinction, scientists warn.

Conservation experts have gathered in London to provide a snapshot of plant heath and what countries are doing to safeguard hundreds of thousands of species.

It warns an estimated 45% of the world’s known flowering plants could be at risk of extinction as climate change and other threats mount.

The situation is even worse for 100,000 or so plant species yet to be formally named, with an estimated 75% of those at risk of vanishing.

The study analyses what individual nations are doing to protect their unique species – those found nowhere else on earth. In Australia, almost nine out of 10 plant species fit that bill.

But the nation isn’t doing what’s needed to understand if they are in trouble.

“By international standards, Australia performed very poorly in conservation assessments,” said Western Sydney University’s Rachael Gallagher, who led the global evaluation of those efforts.

Only 39% of Australia’s unique species have had their threats and conservation status assessed – less than half of what New Zealand and South Africa have managed.

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