Kakadu Threatened Species Strategy

 

Kakadu National Park is home to more than 75 threatened species – likely more than any other Australian conservation reserve.

Like most of northern Australia, Kakadu has seen a worrying decline in small mammals and other threatened species over the last decade. In 2009, monitoring in Kakadu found a 75 per cent drop over the previous five years in the abundance of small mammals. That rate of decline has since slowed, but without intervention the outlook would be bleak.

About the Strategy

In November 2014, the Australian Government launched a rescue plan for Kakadu’s threatened plants and wildlife. The Kakadu Threatened Species Strategy 2014-2024 was developed primarily by leading wildlife expert Professor John Woinarski, through the Northern Australia Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program.

The strategy is supported by a package of four ambitious projects, funding through the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Commissioner.

Project 1

  • Intensive work to target threats from fire, weeds and feral animals in crucial habitat, extending from the Stone Country to the lowland woodlands.

Project 2

  • Creating a wildlife refuge on Gardangarl (Field Island) for species struggling on the mainland including small mammals and goannas.

Project 3

  • Expanding of the ‘toad smart’ quolls project, building on the highly successful research conducted in Kakadu since 2010.

Project 4

  • Seedbanking and propagating threatened plant species, many of which occur nowhere else in the world.

Further information