Conservationists have renewed calls for an end to native forest logging as Australia’s largest gliding mammal, the greater glider, has been listed as endangered.
The federal government has moved the species from a vulnerable to endangered listing at a national level.
More than 30 per cent of the southern and central greater gliders’ habitat was lost during the Black Summer bushfires and the species has remained vulnerable to logging and a warming climate.
ANU researcher David Lindenmayer, who has extensively studied the greater glider, said stronger action was needed to ensure the animal’s survival.
“We already lead the world in mammal extinctions and we lost three species in the last decade,” Professor Lindenmayer said.
The glider is a nocturnal marsupial, with a body spanning 35-46 centimetres long and a tail that can reach 60cm long.
Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek said the listing change would help protect the species.
“We will provide them with better protection and the opportunity to recover … [after] the real blow to the number of greater gliders we saw after the Black Summer bushfires,” she said.
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While conservationists like Professor Lindenmayer supported the new listing, he believed addressing the environmental impacts of native logging would be essential to protect the species.
“We need to make sure the regional forest agreements are reformed,” he said.
Last month, citizen scientists in Victoria sighted 40 greater gliders in areas where they understood logging was planned.
It is not the first time greater glider habitat has been scheduled for logging, with a similar situation occurring on the NSW-Victoria border last year.
However, Ms Plibersek said decisions around native forest logging fell to state governments.
“States will be responsible in the first instance for evaluating the new conservation advice,” she said.
“And they will in the first instance be determining if they need to change their forest management systems.”
The federal environment department is now working on a national recovery plan to implement more specific protections for the species, but a timeline has not been announced.
