What do crabs and birds have in common? The answer is that newly discovered populations of either are not necessarily guaranteed protection by the Federal Government.

This dire situation became apparent recently when several new species of crabs and other crustaceans were discovered on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. The newly discovered species could have been afforded protection under the powerful Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act if the Government had followed its own guidelines, but instead they chose inaction, leaving the fate of the as-yet-undescribed crustaceans in the hands of the miners who propose to extract bauxite from the site.

Why the fuss? This situation could easily be applied to populations of birds as well.

In the recent review of the EPBC Act, one of the few recommendations accepted by the Government was to provide emergency protection to newly discovered species. It was one of the few bright spots in what was an otherwise lacklustre response to the review. Birds Australia supported all of the review’s recommendations, which addressed the major gaps that exist in the EPBC Act.

However, despite accepting this particular reform, the Government has baulked at efforts to fast-track its progress through the Parliament. As the legislation stands, only those species already listed as ‘Matters of National Environmental Significance’ are afforded protection under the EPBC Act, and the process for recognising species or communities under the Act is slow and they are not protected until they are listed.

“The provision to include emergency listing would address a major gap in the existing legislation”, said Samantha Vine, Birds Australia’s Conservation Manager. “Emergency listing will be important in circumstances where there is the potential for immediate significant threats to a species or community of national importance”.

“However, rare species that have only recently been discovered, or species that have undergone recent declines may not be protected for years until a full assessment has been completed, making them vulnerable to destruction in the meantime” said Samantha.

According to Greens Senator Larissa Waters, the Government’s refusal to bring forward this commitment completely undermines the concept of ‘emergency’, meaning that these new and rare species will remain unprotected, and they could easily become extinct before they have even been named.

Hopefully it will not be too late.