Few animals strike a chord with Australians like the koala. Yet this marsupial, symbol of the country, was declared in danger of extinction in New South Wales (NSW) in 2022. Habitat loss, climate stress and disease have drastically reduced populations, so much so that a parliamentary inquiry has raised an alarm: koalas could disappear from the state’s natural environment by 2050.
To counteract this decline, the NSW Government has approved the creation of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), an initiative that supporters call a “once in a generation” conservation decision.
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A reserve for biodiversity
The Great Koala National Park will be a vast protected area of approximately 475,000 hectares located approximately 500 kilometers north of Sydney, stretching from Kempsey to Grafton and inland to the Ebor. The project involves the integration of existing national parks with the conversion of 176,000 hectares of state forests.
This region is home to one of the state’s most significant koala populations, estimated at over 12,000 koalas, approximately 15% of the total NSW population. Protecting a habitat of this size is crucial, as ecologists believe scattered parks are insufficient to support viable populations. The GKNP, by connecting habitat fragments, is designed to create refugia more resistant to drought, fire and rising temperatures.
Not just koalas: the park is also vital to 66 other threatened wildlife species, such as greater flying squirrels and glossy black cockatoos, as well as dozens of rare plants. Protecting these intact native forests also offers climate benefits, as they retain more carbon than forests subject to harvest rotations. Furthermore, the area has great cultural value to the Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti indigenous peoples.
Turning point
The park’s announcement, formally unveiled in September, was accompanied by a temporary ban on logging within the proposed boundaries coming into force on September 8. Prime Minister Chris Minns justified the choice by stating that “koalas will become extinct in the wild by 2050 if we do not make this decision”.
The moratorium represented an expected turning point for environmentalists, but a blow to the timber industry. The decision, in fact, could lead to the loss of around 300 jobs, causing devastation among workers and owners of family-run factories. The Australian Workers Union has criticized the government, accusing it of putting the “environmental lobby” before workers.
The Labor government responded by providing $140 million in immediate funding to transition workers and offering business continuity payments to affected factories, with the aim of redirecting skills to plantations or other sectors. Analysts have noted that the economics of logging native forests are unstable and often subsidized, while most of NSW’s timber already comes from plantations.
Ecotourism and carbon credits
The GKNP is not only seen as an ecological reserve, but also as an economic engine. The government is allocating an additional A$60 million for new tourism infrastructure, such as hiking trails, campsites and adventure areas, with the hope that regional ecotourism could create more sustainable jobs than the logging industry.
However, long-term financing is tied to carbon credits. The government hopes to register the park’s forests in a federal program to sell Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), monetizing the climate benefits and thus helping to manage and monitor the funds. This aspect, combined with the need for approval of the legislation which is not expected before 2026, keeps the complete formalization of the park uncertain.
The GKNP debate encapsulates broader tensions in Australian land policy: between conservation and extractive industries, between regional jobs and environmental commitments. NSW is now moving in the wake of Victoria and Western Australia, which have already ended the logging of native forests. For koalas, Great Koala National Park could mean the difference between survival and extinction.
