Australian Geographic - 09.2019 - 10.2019

September. October 79

PHOTO CREDITS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: AUSCAPE/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY; BOBBY TAMAYO, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY; BEN NOTTIDGE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; MITCH REARDON/GETTYSCIENTIFIC NAMES, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: Strophurus taenicauda; Lasiorhinus krefftii

Clearing of this site in the Brigalow

Belt in central QLD in the

mid-2000s left nowhere for

small animals to hide.

Two victims of brigalow forest clearing are the northern

hairy-nosed wombat (top), now critically endangered nationally,

and the golden-tailed gecko (above).

Professor Chris Dickman is one of hundreds of esteemed

Australian scientists who have called for the tightening of

laws to arrest the country’s deforestation crisis.

FACT

Thirty-five per cent

of Australia’s native

forest is on land

protected for

biodiversity

conservation.