Australia to Set Aside 30 Percent of Land Mass for Conservation
2022-10-09
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1Australia's Environment Minister said on Tuesday it will set aside at least 30 percent of its land mass for conservation.
2Tanya Plibersek said the plan will help protect plants and animals on the continent where many animals are found nowhere else.
3Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent.
4And an Australian government environmental report released in July showed that the country has one of the worst rates for species loss among the world's richest nations.
5That report showed the number of species added to the list of threatened species or in a higher class of risk grew on average by eight percent from the former report in 2016.
6Plibersek said, "The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction has never been greater."
7Plibersek said the conservation areas will increase by 50 million hectares under the 10-year plan, which will be reexamined in 2027.
8The recently elected federal Labor government has set $146 million to help protect Australia's threatened native plants and animals.
9Australia is the sixth largest country by land area in the world.
10And it is home to animals found nowhere else.
11Those animals include koalas and platypus.
12But their numbers have been falling due to extreme weather events and humans moving into areas where they live.
13Koalas along much of the east coast were listed as endangered in February.
14This was after nature experts estimated Australia has lost about 30 percent of its koalas over the past four years.
15Australia suffers extreme weather events on a usual basis.
16Such happenings include the deadly wildfires in 2019 and 2020 in the east that killed 33 people, billions of animals, and burned a huge area.
17The non-profit group World Wildlife Fund-Australia has welcomed the government's conservation efforts.
18But it is also urging officials to invest in recovery plans for every threatened species.
19Rachel Lowry is the group's chief conservation officer.
20She said, "Australia has more than 1,900 listed threatened species.
21This plan picks 110 winners. It's unclear how it will help our other 'nonpriority' threatened species."
22I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Australia's Environment Minister said on Tuesday it will set aside at least 30 percent of its land mass for conservation. Tanya Plibersek said the plan will help protect plants and animals on the continent where many animals are found nowhere else. 2Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent. And an Australian government environmental report released in July showed that the country has one of the worst rates for species loss among the world's richest nations. 3That report showed the number of species added to the list of threatened species or in a higher class of risk grew on average by eight percent from the former report in 2016. 4Plibersek said, "The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction has never been greater." 5Plibersek said the conservation areas will increase by 50 million hectares under the 10-year plan, which will be reexamined in 2027. 6The recently elected federal Labor government has set $146 million to help protect Australia's threatened native plants and animals. 7Australia is the sixth largest country by land area in the world. And it is home to animals found nowhere else. Those animals include koalas and platypus. But their numbers have been falling due to extreme weather events and humans moving into areas where they live. 8Koalas along much of the east coast were listed as endangered in February. This was after nature experts estimated Australia has lost about 30 percent of its koalas over the past four years. 9Australia suffers extreme weather events on a usual basis. Such happenings include the deadly wildfires in 2019 and 2020 in the east that killed 33 people, billions of animals, and burned a huge area. 10The non-profit group World Wildlife Fund-Australia has welcomed the government's conservation efforts. But it is also urging officials to invest in recovery plans for every threatened species. 11Rachel Lowry is the group's chief conservation officer. She said, "Australia has more than 1,900 listed threatened species. This plan picks 110 winners. It's unclear how it will help our other 'nonpriority' threatened species." 12I'm Faith Pirlo. 13Reuters staff reported this story. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. 14________________________________________________________________________ 15Words in This Story 16conservation - n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources 17mammal - n. a type of animal that feeds milk to its young and that usually has hair or fur covering most of its skin 18species - n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants 19ecosystem - n. everything that exists in a particular environment 20extinction - n. the state or situation that results when something (such as a plant or animal species) has died out completely 21prioritize - v. to make (something) the most important thing in a group 22_______________________________________________________________________ 23What do you think of the use of conservation? 24We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 25Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.