The national animal of Australia, the koala, has been officially designated as an endangered species after a sharp decline in its population.
According to foreign media such as ABC, Australia, on the 11th local time, the Australian government designated koalas as endangered species in three eastern coastal areas: Queensland, New South Wales (NSW), and the Capital Territory (ACT), the main habitats of koalas. announced that it was managed.
The koala population in Australia has declined sharply in recent years.
According to the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), the number of koalas decreased from 80,000 in 2018 to 58,000 last year, a decrease of nearly 30% in three years.
The reasons for the decline in the koala population include forest fires, development of mines, residential and agricultural land, habitat destruction due to logging, drought and disease.
Among them, the large-scale wildfires that hit Australia from September 2019 to February 2020 were 'fatal'.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), more than 60,000 koalas were killed or injured as 170,000 square kilometers of the wildfires were burned to ashes.
The announcement of the endangered species designation comes after the Australian government announced at the end of last month that it would provide AUD 50 million (about 42.7 billion won) to protect koalas.
Dr Stuart Blanche of WWF Australia said: "The koala population is declining at an alarming rate.
"The only way to stop extinction is to enact strong laws and find ways to incentivize landowners to protect their habitat," he warned.
An official from the environmental group Humane Society International (HSI) said, "If no action is taken, koalas could become extinct off the eastern coast of Australia by 2050."
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