CANBERRA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has added 17 new species to the country's threatened species list.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) on Thursday announced that two birds, three fishes, 11 reptiles and one worm have been added to the conservation list.
Of the 17, seven reptiles, the Lord Howe earthworm, Daintree rainbowfish and Moroka Galaxias - a small freshwater fish - have entered the list as critically endangered, the most urgent threat category under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Four more reptiles, one fish and one bird were listed as endangered. The sooty shearwater - a seabird known for its annual 64,000-kilometer migration from the southern hemisphere to the north Pacific - was added to the list as vulnerable and another bird, the Mallee whipbird, was upgraded from vulnerable to endangered.
Responding to the updated list, environmental organization the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said that governments and communities across the country were not doing enough to protect native reptiles.
"Australia is home to more than 10 percent of the world's total reptile species. With 93 percent of our reptiles found nowhere else on earth, it's critical we protect our unique scaly wildlife," Peta Bulling, a nature campaigner at the NGO, said in a statement.
"Australia has a terrible record when it comes to protecting our animals and plants."
Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, anyone who is convicted of damaging the habitat of a threatened species faces a maximum fine of 1.1 million Australian dollars (750,000 U.S. dollars) and up to one year's imprisonment.
The Australian government in 2022 launched a new Threatened Species Action Plan with a goal of no new extinctions of native Australian flora and fauna.
Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for the Environment and Water, on Thursday, announced 24 million AUD (16.2 million U.S. dollars) in funding for 61 projects aiming to protect populations of threatened plants and animals. ■
