[Greens-Media] Tas Greens_IUCN Red List Identifies Habitat Loss as Primary Threat To Devil_C O'Connor MP

[greens at parliament.tas.gov.au]

TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT HAS GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT NATIVE HABITAT

Current Management Practices Work Against Species' Survival

Cassy O'Connor MP
Greens Shadow Environment Spokesperson

Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Contact: State Parliamentary Offices of the Tasmanian Greens, (03) 6233
8300

www.tas.greens.org.au


The Tasmanian Greens today highlighted the publication of the most
recent World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List which paints a bleak
scenario for the world's mammals, including the iconic Tasmanian Devil,
and places an irrefutable responsibility on the Bartlett Government to
do more to protect native habitat for all endemic species in Tasmania.

Greens Shadow Environment spokesperson Cassy O'Connor MP said the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species identifies habitat loss as a primary
threat to at least a quarter of the planet's 5487 mammal species.  The
List places the Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus harrisii, in the Endangered
category.

"The Tasmanian Government has to get a better grip on contemporary
environmental thinking, it needs to wise up to the value of biodiversity
for a healthy environment, and therefore to human wellbeing, and to
commit to more sustainable land management practices in Tasmania," Ms
O'Connor said.

"Most importantly, the Bartlett Government needs to break from the past
and stop putting the interests of Gunns and Forestry Tasmania ahead of
the survival of native forest species."

"The Tasmanian Devil has a precarious hold on survival in its native
habitat. The IUCN projects at least a 90% decline in numbers across the
Devil's affected range over the next decade, with the Devil Facial
Tumour Disease spreading further and resulting in widespread local
extinctions.

"Tasmania's North East is prime Devil country, yet it is being logged at
an alarming, unsustainable rate. There is no justification for
flattening and razing native animal habitat in Tasmania. Following the
recent, massive, declines in Devil numbers every bit of available,
intact, Devil habitat needs protection to give the species a better
chance of survival."

"If this government values Tasmania's globally unique fauna such as the
Devil, the Spotted Quoll, and the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, it must act
to protect the island's remaining native habitat," Ms O'Connor said. 


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IUCN Red List: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/40540




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