Threatened Species Program
Overview
Queensland’s Threatened Species Program 2020-2040 details our long-term plan to conserve the state’s most vulnerable flora and fauna. It aims to deliver coordinated actions with our partners to:
- identify, protect and recover threatened species across our terrestrial and aquatic environments
- mitigate the threatening processes that impact them.
The program is designed to meet the Queensland Government’s responsibilities and obligations to manage and conserve threatened species, including those under Queensland and Commonwealth legislation and international agreements. By adopting a strategic, integrated and coordinated approach to planning and implementing recovery activities across the sector, this program will help deliver increased outcomes for threatened species and their habitats.
The vision is that Queenslanders support threatened species to prosper in self-sustaining populations now and into the future.
Targets
Our work under the Threatened Species Program includes:
- partnering with organisations to achieve our vision, including working with Traditional Owners to deliver actions on Country
- expanding the evidence base through research and monitoring, which underpins the listing and management of priority threatened species
- establishing tools, processes and guidance to improve collaboration and coordination of recovery actions
- establishing and maintaining systems and processes to support community conservation networks.
Outcomes
- The Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has co-developed a Threatened Species Prioritisation Framework to guide threatened species investment and recovery actions across Queensland. The framework aims to address the 2018-2019 Queensland Audit Report findings that DETSI lacked a system to prioritise recovery efforts for threatened species. It includes an online decision-support tool underpinned by a comprehensive database of information on all of Queensland’s threatened species.
- In the first years of implementation, the Threatened Species Program has supported research and recovery action projects for over 123 threatened plants and animals that increase knowledge of their biology and ecology, assist their recovery in the wild, and work that directly supports on-ground conservation and recovery.
