In late 2023 the Australian Government undertook a first pass assessment to review climate risks within 8 systems of national importance. It considered how risks can compound, cascade, and aggregate across these systems.

In 2024 the government undertook its second pass risk assessment analysing 11 priority risks selected by the Australian Government, one of these was natural ecosystems.

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In September 2025 the Australian Government released its National Climate Risk Assessment. 10 priority hazards were considered in the National Assessment to determine key impacts and climate risks for Australia over the next century. It goes without saying that each of these exposes Australia’s wonderful diversity of species to extreme risk of accelerated endangerment and extinction.

• Changes in temperatures;
• Drought and changes in aridity;
• Bushfires, grassfires and air pollution;
• Extratropical storms;
• Convective storms, including hail;
• Tropical cyclones;
• Riverine and flash flooding;
• Coastal and estuarine flooding;
• Coastal erosion and shoreline change; and
• Ocean warming and acidification.

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Impacts on Biodiversity and Ecosystems defined by the National Climate Risk Assessment (15 September 2025)

The National Climate Risk Assessment identifies significant and escalating risks to Australia’s biodiversity and ecosystems from climate change. Key findings include:

• Habitat Loss and Degradation: Rising temperatures, altered rainfall, sea-level rise, and more frequent extreme weather (fire, drought, floods) are degrading natural habitats, particularly impacting wetlands, coral reefs, alpine areas, rainforests, and coastal zones.
• Species Decline and Extinctions: Many native plant and animal species, already vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and invasive species, face increased extinction risk due to shifting climate zones, changes in breeding or migration patterns, and food shortages.
• Ecosystem Disruption: Disruption of ecological communities is expected, with loss of keystone species, altered food webs, and climate driven arrival of invasive species, changing ecosystem functioning and resilience.
• Reduced Ecosystem Services: Climate impacts are undermining crucial ecosystem services (pollination, carbon sequestration, water purification), with knock-on effects for agriculture, human health, and natural disaster risk reduction.
• High-Risk Areas: The report highlights Great Barrier Reef, Murray-Darling Basin, Northern Savannas, Australian Alps, and coastal estuaries as particularly threatened, with some ecosystems already experiencing irreversible change. The Torres Strait (Melanesian Australia) and mainland Aboriginal Communities including Arnhem Land are at extreme risk, including disruption and loss of culture.
• Limitations of Adaptation: While nature-based adaptation (e.g., habitat restoration, assisted migration) can help, options are limited for some ecosystems as thresholds are exceeded and irreversible impacts occur.

Biodiversity and ecosystem health across Australia face severe risks under projected climate scenarios, threatening unique species and undermining services critical to society. Urgent emissions reductions, adaptation planning, and greater investment in ecosystem resilience, proper protection of all native species and restoration are required.

• State Government Environment Departments need complete overhaul as they lack capacity to deal with rapid climate change impacts and have not adapted to changing circumstances as business as usual prevails.

Proper protection of protected native species includes stopping the mass killing of convenience engulfing well over 100 protected native species and millions of animals each year  (so called harm mitigation permits), the mass killing of protected native wildlife for commercial gain, the mass killing of protected native wildlife for ‘recreation’ (particularly but not only impacting Australia’s birdlife) and a range of other excuses and mechanism that allow the mass destruction of protected Australian wildlife.

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Risks for Kangaroo and Wallaby Species

• Ecosystem Threats: Changing rainfall patterns, temperature extremes, and habitat loss threaten Kangaroo and Wallaby populations, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions.
• Population Declines: Increased drought frequency and severity can cause substantial declines in Kangaroo numbers, risking even more local extinctions.
• Commercial Implications: The commercial exploitation of Kangaroo species is subject to the direct impacts of climate change in all regions and geography type. Declining populations and new regulatory restrictions (due to conservation requirements) will destroy the viability of the commercial exploitation of native species.

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A vicious cycle of destruction

And a growing frontier of wildlife slaughter of particular concern, as Australia expands its fossil fuel exports at scale, emission offsets from polluters include large scale plantations where Australian wildlife has no place.

Planting more trees, what a good idea!? Well it should be but there is a nasty end to this tale. Plantations equal exclusion fencing and complete eradication of wildlife (mostly mammal species) within what a vast scale areas of once farming land. Many species are impacted and as the requirement for offsets expands with a growing fossil fuel export industry, this growing threat has the potential to significantly impact remaining Kangaroo and Wallaby populations in both the east coast states and WA.

Governments need to understand that emissions offsetting activity should not be a trigger , nor excuse, for yet more wildlife killing. State Governments need to stop issuing unmonitored and unaccounted for harms permits at scale and particularly so to these kinds of plantation developments. Major international companies also need to consider the ethics of what is occurring as well as the corporate risk.

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