Understorey: Seven Ways to Protect

How can we protect what we don’t know? In WA there is no data on illegal native vegetation clearing, and that threatens precious specialised flora and fauna across the state. We simply don’t understand the key drivers and true extent of the problem.

How to change that? One small word: data. A Wilderness Society report launched last week reveals the declining state of WA’s native vegetation, and the need for transparent and accessible information to be collected and shared.  Scientists, First Nation elders and environmental campaigners are calling for urgent and bold reform, arguing that data investment and transparency are the keys to system transformation.     

With the recent memory of the state government’s controversial autumn “controlled” fires in mind, Understorey went along to last week’s launch held in Kings Park to hear more about this clarion call for survival and support for our state’s environment, focusing on seven actions, including adopting a long-term, shareable, sustainable, whole-state monitoring program. This appeal for systematic data collection is a first step in protecting what we most depend on.

[Report available at https://www.wilderness.org.au/western-australias-native-vegetation]

Photos: supplied by Wilderness Society