The Koala Corridor

After the catastrophic fires of the 2019/20 summer, when 61,000 Koalas are estimated to have perished, the Koala has become the poster child for government to prove its environmental credentials, as corporate mascots and for environmental campaigners concerned about habitat loss. And yet, Koalas are predicted to be extinct in NSW by 2050 without human intervention.

In South West Sydney, as healthy koalas search for tasty eucalyptus leaf or a mate in the bushland fringes of Appin and Campbelltown, dodging traffic on the roads, researchers concerned for their future, track their movements, health and numbers. Architects and planners discuss how new housing developments can be sympathetic to the needs of our iconic endangered species.

The shy Koala is now caught in the crossfire, with its survival dependent on politics, developers and public sentiment.

The Koala has long been on a trajectory to extinction; due largely to lack of public concern and political will. It is estimated 61,000 koalas perished in last year's fires. 0nly 1% native vegetation remains west of the Great Dividing Range, so the East Coast Koalas are in the majority.
We have now the urgent task to save the remaining koalas. The little know story of South West Sydney's koalas, a healthy colony which is on the move due to loss of habitat, is brought into the spotlight.

Outcomes: prompt better koala protection legislation (more effective Koala SEPPs); strengthen state laws protecting koalas and biodiversity generally; and prompt appropriate legislative responses to the above. Stimulate debate about the protection of endangered species within the arenas of the general public, government policy and the media.

As young people were so successfully mobilised on the issue of Climate Change, the Adani mine issue and by Greta Thunberg's School Strike for Climate, we think they can become a force for protection of threatened species.

If it reaches a wide audience and alerts the general public as to the major threats to the Koala's survival, which are, as well as bushfire, land-clearing of koala habitat, road kill, and dog attack. Good outcomes: increased public support for wildlife corridors, underpasses, tree planting programs and funding of koala rehabilitation programs, better planning laws and more koala friendly design in housing development. Ideally environment protection laws, concepts like Bio-banking, and environmental offsets all have to be reviewed and improved so they serve the wildlife they are intended to protect. This could be at a constitutional level or at least at a state government level. The 6th Mass Extinction calls for urgent action to preserve many species.
These goals are ambitious but if film can start new conversations around the issue and bring new supporters to the cause it will be great.

We are consulting with community level groups and environmental NGOs (Nature Conservation Council, National Parks Association, Total Environment Centre, Bob Brown Foundation, Sutherland Shire Environment Group, Georges River Environmental Alliance, Save Sydney Koalas, and local residents groups in Campbelltown, Appin and Sutherland shires), with the support of WIRES re animal rescue, and have a number of higher level environmental consultants (names are confidential) advising.
We will be guided by scientists and researchers whose expertise in scientific methods and data gathering is peer reviewed and by ecologists who area advising on both sides of the debate.

Lobby local and state government to maintain and develop wildlife corridors on the city fringe.
Prompt community members to: 1) volunteer for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, 2) donate to scientific research projects about the range, diversity and behaviour of local koala populations in their area, 3) Talk to their local school, church group, environmental action group, 4) Join WIRES or another wildlife rescue group, 5) encourage their children to study biology or environmental science, and /or 6) donate to the impact campaign for the film, and help the impact release campaign by organising a screening, talk or other event in your area.

Increased mainstream media coverage of the issue of habitat protection as a key factor in mitigating the effects of climate change. More sophisticated understanding of the status of endangered native animals in the face of increasingly severe heat and drought, and the important role trees play in the environment for the comfort of humans and animals. An indicator for success would be measured by the number of impact screenings, the take-up by schools and educational institutions of the educational materials, and the general viewer numbers on multiple platforms. Raise the issue of habitat loss in relation to endangered species to international attention of more global NGOs and agencies. Koalas are already on the radar with World Wide Fund for Nature and Nature Conservation Council.