Science and Health

Australia to lose 45 species in 20 years: study

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-23 13:47

CANBERRA - Up to 45 native species in Western Australia's Kimberley region will die out within 20 years if no action is taken, latest study showed on Wednesday.

The Priority Threat Management to Protect Kimberley Wildlife report, released by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on Wednesday, was commissioned by the Wilderness Society.

The report showed that at present, $ 20.2 million  a year is spent on conservation efforts in the Kimberley, which is home to an assortment of threatened species.

However, the report said even if that money was spent properly, the region would still lose some 31 native animals.

The numbers of many more birds, reptiles and mammals, such as the Spotted Tree Monitor and the Western Chestnut Mouse, would dwindle.

It called for an immediate cash injection of $96 million to save creatures like the Golden Bandicoot, the Scaly- Tailed Possum and the Monjon Rock Wallaby from extinction.

It will follow by an ongoing investment of $40.43 million annually in the Kimberley to protect its species, as well as boost plant life, help the climate and conserve indigenous land.

"This investment is great value," one of the report's six co-authors Hugh Possingham said in a statement released on Wednesday.

"We can save some of Australia's most iconic mammals and birds at a cost of only about $1 million per species per year."