Queensland Threatened Species Program
Queensland’s Threatened Species Program details our long-term plan to conserve Queensland’s most vulnerable flora and fauna species.
It aims to deliver coordinated actions with our partners to identify, protect and recover threatened species across our terrestrial and aquatic environments and mitigate the threatening processes that impact them.
The program is designed to meet the Queensland Government’s responsibilities and obligations to manage and conserve threatened species including those under Queensland and Commonwealth legislation and international agreements.
By adopting a strategic, integrated and coordinated approach to planning and implementing recovery activities across the sector, this program will help deliver increased outcomes for threatened species and their habitats.
The vision is Queenslanders support threatened species to prosper in self-sustaining populations now and into the future.
The Threatened Species Program is underpinned by five key focus areas that guide Queensland Government implementation and actions.
- Legislation, policy and governance
- Planning and management
- Science and knowledge
- Connect and communicate
- Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement framework.
Our work includes:
- partnering with organisations to achieve our vision, including working with Traditional Owners to deliver actions on Country
- expanding the evidence-base, through research and monitoring, which underpins the listing and management of priority threatened species
- establishing tools, processes and guidance to improve collaboration and coordination of recovery actions
- establishing and maintaining systems and processes to support community conservation networks.
While the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation leads the Queensland Threatened Species Program, we aim to involve our stakeholders as active partners and co-stewards in protecting and recovering threatened species. We work with First Nations people, landholders, researchers, businesses, non-government organisations, volunteers and local communities. Our actions are guided by research, monitoring and evaluation.
The Conserving Nature – a Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for Queensland provides the overarching policy framework for managing threatened species in our state and our Threatened Species Program supports national efforts such as the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 .
Increased threatened species funding
Nearly $40 million of additional funding was allocated to the Queensland Threatened Species Program and the South-East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy in 2022–23. This increased funding will ensure key threatened species priorities to further conserve and protect our threatened flora and fauna are delivered in partnership with a range of stakeholders.
Protected areas
More than 72% of Queensland threatened species listed under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 are found in national parks and other protected areas. Around 26% of these species are either highly, or entirely, reliant on these areas for their survival.
Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2020–2030 aims to grow the protected area system to help conserve critical habitat for threatened species. In 2022–23, the Queensland Government provided new investment of $262.5 million to acquire more land for protected areas.
The Queensland Government has also committed $8 million over four years to continue the successful Private Protected Area Program, the largest by land area of its kind in Australia, which involves 560 private protected areas covering 4.5 million hectares. Many of these sites deliver protection of threatened species and their habitats.
In addition, there are a range of other Queensland Government programs and initiatives that help conserve threatened species including:
- environmental offsets
- Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger program
- Land Restoration Fund
- protected plants
- vegetation management.