The review of the Australian Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: an opportunity to protect the kangaroo population.

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The review of the Australian Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: an opportunity to protect the kangaroo population.

29 January 2021
Eurogroup for Animals
News
The review of the Australian Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was released on 28 January 2021. The review, the first in over a decade, highlights the failure of the Act to deliver for the environment, for business or for the community.

The author, Professor Graeme Samuel AC, states in the introduction that “to shy away from the fundamental reforms recommended by this review is to accept the continued decline of our iconic places and the extinction of our most threatened plants, animals and ecosystems”. He calls for “a concerted effort to fundamentally re-write and modernise the Act and its implementation”. 

Australia’s flora and fauna species have known an important rate of extinction since European settlement, and the decreasing of many species, including the country’s anthem, the kangaroo. Although the remaining number of kangaroos is unknown after the recent droughts and fires in Australia, the commercial shooting of kangaroos is still being conducted. Besides conservation issues, the commercial shooting of kangaroos induces high health and welfare concerns for the animals who are shot in the wild and at night in poor hygienic conditions. 

This review puts some pressure on the federal Minister for Environment, Sussan Ley, to act and revise the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which could have a major impact on the population of kangaroos in Australia.

Eurogroup for Animals along with its Member Organisations, is calling for an EU ban on the import of kangaroo-derived products. As the largest importer of kangaroo derived products, the EU plays a major role in the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in Australia

Read more here.