ABC - Broadcast: 21/10/2009
Reporter: Lisa Whitehead
It is well documented bird populations are in serious decline across the
country but a new Victorian study has set alarm bells ringing. The scientific
team claims two thirds of bird species studied, including common birds like
lorikeets thornbills and honeyeaters have declined dramatically in the past five
years, and they're warning a wave of extinctions could follow.
Transcript
KERRY O?BRIEN, PRESENTER: It's well documented that bird populations are in
serious decline across the country, but a new Victorian study has set alarm
bells ringing.
The scientific team claims two thirds of bird species
studied - including common birds like lorikeets, thornbills and honeyeaters -
have declined dramatically in the past five few years.
And they're
warning that a wave of extinctions could follow.
Lisa Whitehead
reports.
DR JIM RADFORD, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: The population numbers are
gradually going down. So we see some species just disappearing.
PROF.
ANDREW BENNETT, DEAKIN UNVERSITY: We are in the middle of a mass extinction
crisis.
PAUL SINCLAIR, AUST. CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: How could you
imagine a bush without a kookaburra?
LISA WHITEHEAD, REPORTER: The
Australian bush without the call of the kookaburra, without honeyeaters or
lorikeets, or the distinctive song of the rufous whistler.
It is hard to
imagine, but the latest research shows populations of these native woodland
birds are crashing. And ecologists say without urgent action a wave of
extinctions is on the horizon.
We will lose our natural heritage. We will
come out to these forests and they will be silent.
LISA WHITEHEAD:
Professor Andrew Bennett and Dr Jim Radford, along with a team from Melbourne's
Monash University independently tracked bird numbers in central and northern
Victoria over a 15-year period.
When they cross-matched results they
were stunned.
DR JIM RADFORD: We double checked and tripped checked. We
made sure that these numbers were right. We were very alarmed.
LISA
WHITEHEAD: For 12 years Professor Andrew Bennett has been monitoring woodland
bird numbers in this protected box ironbark forest.
PROF. ANDREW BENNETT:
Comparing that first two years and the last two years, when I calculate out that
over 40 per cent decline in this forest alone, it amounts to more than 150,000
birds less.
LISA WHITEHEAD: What surprised the scientific team most was
that the problem wasn't confined to rare or endangered birds.
PROF.
ANDREW BENNETT: t was some of the more common species like kookaburras to have
some of these common birds declining and disappearing, dropping out of
landscapes here, dropping out of landscapes there. That's what's
alarming.
LISA WHITEHEAD: But the danger signs aren't just being seen in
inland Victoria. Bird populations are on a downward path across the
country.
PROF. HUGH POSSINGHAM, ECOLOGY CENTRE, UQ: We have just
published some work from around Brisbane which shows 20 or 30 species in serious
decline and whether you're a bush bird, like this study is talking about, or
whether you're in fresh water systems or in marine systems, they're all in
decline.
LISA WHITEHEAD: So why are our native bird populations
plummeting?
PROF. ANDREW BENNETT: The primary driver is the change in the
weather patterns we've had, this change in climate over the last 10 years. We've
had more than 10 years of below average rainfall now. In 2002, it was well below
average.
It affects the food supplies. That feeds through to the
population cycles.
LISA WHITEHEAD: Traditionally, these red ironbark
trees flower each winter. And nectar-feeding birds rely on them as a food
source. But this winter they didn't flower at all, and there's only been two
heavy-flowering events in the last eight years.
DR JIM RADFORD: These
birds will move out of this area entirely. When they return I suspect their
breeding success and their breeding attempts is compromised.
LISA
WHITEHEAD: Less rainfall and higher temperatures are accelerating the damage
already done by decades of land degradation.
PROF. HUGH POSSINGHAM: If
you knock off 70 to 90 per cent of all the native vegetation, introduce a whole
heap of feral predators and weeds then you can't expect to get away with that
without some sort of disaster.
LISA WHITEHEAD: Experts say Australia
faces losing a bird species every 10 years, unless extra funds are found to fund
threatened bird projects.
PROF. HUGH POSSINGHAM: We could half that rate
if we doubled the investment. We could half it again if we added another $3
million. So if we spent say, $15 million a year, instead of $3 million, we would
virtually stop bird extinctions in Australia.
PETER GARRETT, FED.
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: I recognise that this is a very serious issue particularly
for the State of Victoria and that wheat belt and sheep belt area. But we have
significant pressures on our native plant and animal species right around the
country.
LISA WHITEHEAD: In an effort to protect native plants and
animals, the Rudd Government has quadrupled investment in the country's national
parks and reserves. But the Victorian study showed bird numbers are declining in
protected areas as well as in heavily-cleared land, challenging the notion that
the existing reserve system will preserve biodiversity.
PAUL SINCLAIR:
Most of the reserve systems, you know, the national parks, protected areas, were
built on pretty crappy land. That's the land that we couldn't dig up or chop
down. What we really need to see is a rapid expansion of our protected areas
into fertile areas of Australia, particularly along the river frontages and
flood plains.
If we don't, we will lose iconic species like
kookaburras.
LISA WHITEHEAD: Governments agree a new approach is needed
to halt the decline. But scientist and conservationists argue a huge injection
of funds into biodiversity infrastructure must come with it.
PROF. HUGH
POSSINGHAM: With our current investment in the environment, we are going to lose
many, many species, many species that people treasure and get enjoyment out of
and which underpins our tourism industry.
LISA WHITEHEAD: The Federal
Government's main initiative to combat biodiversity loss is its caring for
country program to which its allocated $2.4 billion over five years.
PETER GARRETT: We had applications which far exceeded the amount of
resources under caring for our country which is a substantial commitment
already. That says two things: firstly, that the need is great in every state
and secondly that we will have to be particularly targeted and try and get the
best out of the resources we have.
LISA WHITEHEAD: But a recent draft of
the Federal Government's action plan, its national biodiversity strategy,
sparked a letter of protest from 90 members of Australia's scientific community.
They claimed it critical failings.
PROF. HUGH POSSINGHAM: The new
biodiversity strategy really sets no timelines and it doesn't set any goals, and
it doesn't say what it's going to cost. So it's a strategy that doesn't seem to
really say you're going to do anything by any time.
PETER GARRETT: Look,
I welcome the fact that the scientific community are expressing a strong view
point about this. As I've said before, I think they got it wrong in part. I
don't think they looked close closely at what the Commonwealth Government's been
doing. But I recognise that there were some issues that they raised that were
legitimate. That is the whole point of a draft policy, is that you take feedback
from stakeholders, you listen carefully. If you think there's merit in the views
that they're putting, you take it on board and you improve the document. And
that's what we're going to do.
LISA WHITEHEAD: The stakes are high.
Getting it wrong could irrevocably change the face of the Australian landscape.
