Extract from ABC News
Once found in overwhelming numbers, bogong moths used to flood Parliament House in Canberra and even troubled athletes at the Sydney Olympics on their annual migration to the Australian alps.
Key points:
- 124 Australian species were added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list
- Climate change and drought are part of the reason for the moth's decline
- The Commonwealth does not list the moth as endangered under its own scheme
But the bogong moth has now been declared endangered by world's leading scientific assessment of species vulnerability.
It is one of 124 Australian species added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) "Red List of Threatened Species".
Of those, 54 have been categorised as either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable, which includes the bogong moth, the grey-headed flying-fox, greenlip abalone, arcadia velvet gecko and several insect species from Kangaroo Island.
A "dramatic crash" in the bogong moth population in 2017 led to a 98 to 99 per cent decline in their numbers, according to Australian National University scholar Jesse Wallace.
He is studying how bogong moths navigate from their breeding grounds, which are predominantly in the western parts of Queensland and New South Wales, to granite caves in the southern alps.
He estimates the population is growing again, "maybe a five per cent recovery per year or so," but is concerned about the bogong moth's future prospects.
"We're waiting with bated breath to see what happens this year," he said.
"It is no longer really drought, [but] there are flood in some of their breeding grounds, which probably isn't good news for them either.
"We
haven't actually seen them arriving in large numbers into the mountains
this year yet. It has been a delayed migration, which is probably also
due to the weather."
The absence of bogong moths in the high country has a cascade effect, as it is an important food source for other alpine species, including the critically endangered mountain pygmy possum.
Listing 'wake up' for government
The federal and state governments keep their own lists of vulnerable species, but the IUCN's "Red List" is developed independently through international scientific collaboration.
So while the bogong moth is regarded as endangered by the IUCN, it is not listed as a threatened species at all under the Commonwealth's scheme.
"The addition of so many species to the international Red List should be a real wake up for the federal government," said Jess Abrahams from the Australian Conservation Foundation
"Most urgently,
we need serious action on climate change because so many of the
additions of new animals to this list are because of the impact of
climate change."
He points to the addition of many insect species from bushfire-affected Kangaroo Island and the heat-sensitive grey-headed flying-fox to the Red List as examples of the impact of climate change on Australia's biodiversity.
"Whether it's drought, or bushfire, or the loss of alpine environments, climate change is having a big toll," Mr Abrahams said.
The ACF is also calling for more investment in recovery efforts for threatened species and strengthening of environmental and biodiversity protection laws.
Internationally, the IUCN Red List now has more than 40,000 species classified as threatened.
It has reduced the number of extinct Australian species from 45 to 44, deciding there is not enough data to officially declare the smooth handfish extinct.
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