The Office of the Auditor General has released its review of threatened species conservation in Western Australia. The report stressed the need for significant improvement to arrest the rate of potential extinctions. In regard to weed management, the report notes that the establishment of more reserves will facilitate improved management of weed threats.

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In many areas DEC is not effectively protecting and recovering threatened species. The number of threatened species is rising and only a few species are improving. Recovery action is not happening for most threatened species. The majority of resources and effort are allocated to critically endangered species, placing vulnerable and endangered species at risk of further decline.

DEC has some successful programs to address broad scale threats to multiple species, but in other areas that underpin conservation, such as habitat protection, DEC is facing significant challenges.

DEC cannot demonstrate the overall effectiveness of its threatened species conservation activities. This limits assurance that it has effective management and conservation processes and programs to ensure the protection and recovery of WA’s threatened species.

Much of DEC’s threatened species activities are not enabled by existing legislation and DEC has created policies to cover these gaps. The Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 does not provide species with adequate protection.

What the examination found...

• 601 species in WA are listed as threatened with extinction and this number is increasing. Only a handful of species are improving.
• Only one in five threatened fauna and less than half of threatened flora have a recovery plan, while full implementation of the plans that are in place often does not occur. Without a recovery plan, the needs of threatened species may not be identified and addressed.
• Multi-species approaches to conservation are an effective response to the growing number of threatened species. DEC has a number of multi-species programs.
• Creating reserves is a key habitat conservation mechanism, but less than half the amount of land agreed under the national target has been reserved in WA. On average, it takes a decade for acquired land to become a reserve.
• DEC cannot demonstrate the effectiveness of its threatened species conservation activities for all threatened species.
• Since 1987 DEC and its predecessor agencies have sought to replace the 1950 Wildlife Conservation Act with new legislation that would provide greater support for conserving biodiversity.

What the examination recommended...

DEC should:

• consider changing how it prioritises species for conservation attention to ensure existing resources are used to maximum long-term effect
• continue to identify and acquire land of conservation value and work with other agencies to achieve reservation more quickly
• implement an evaluation framework and supporting systems to assist in measuring threatened species conservation effectiveness
• continue its efforts to replace the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 with a new Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Click here for the Full Report in Adobe PDF (251kb PDF)