Applying landscape-level principles to koala management in Australia: a comparative analysis

Abstract

We provide a comparative analysis of two koala management plans for populations in two Australian municipalities, based on principles of landscape management: Ballarat (Victoria) and Bellingen (New South Wales). A landscape-based approach is required to protect the species, but evaluation of landscape management is limited. We present an assessment framework for evaluating local koala management plans. The plans are evaluated against a common set of principles and criteria, despite very different approaches stemming from context-specific factors. Interestingly, despite a variation in the number of indicators in the plans, the overall results of the evaluation demonstrate a similar level of performance against the criteria, and common strengths and weaknesses. In the absence of consistent standards for the protection of the koala across Australia, the species will continue to decline, and management practices will fail to protect the koala from extinction, as is currently predicted.

Keywords:

• Koala management
• landscape planning
• governance
• ecosystem integrity
• local government

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the authors of the two koala management plans, the organisations that supported the writing and implementation of these plans and the communities that supported them.

Data availability statement and data deposition

Detailed summary data of the analysis is available in the Supplementary Information.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1 The time-consuming nature of the assessment led to only three of the team providing assessment, reflecting the resource and capacity limitations commonly faced by evaluation (see Section 2.3). Given more resources, the scoring would have been undertaken by all members of the team. Note, however, this initial assessment provides the basis for survey tools based on the indicator statements identified.