What is the issue?

Oceania is a continent that is described as having a beautiful landscape as well as a plethora of endemic species. While that is correct, the population of species that have been placed on the endangered species list or have gone extinct all together is alarmingly large. In project 1 we discussed the landscape in Australia that has made it such a desirable home for so many species as well as the history of the continent in terms of European colonization. Europeans came into Australia and took over, meaning that indigenous people and plants/animals were threatened by new ideas and species that were introduced and integrated. This is believed to be the main reason that extinction began to occur in Oceania. With that being said, since then, over 100 species have ultimately gone extinct creating a very high extinction rate for the continent; it also has the highest vertebrate mammal extinction rate in the world. Another argument that people propose to explain the reasons for large-scale extinction are invasive species. In a journal titled Pacific Conservation Biology 25, researchers found that 1,257 of the endangered species found in Australia are directly affected by an invasive species; 207 invasive plants, 57 animals and 3 pathogens. This goes to say that 267 species have been able to change the growth pattern of over 1000 species which is important to note. Invasive species are able to come in and essentially disrupt the way of living of many if not all of the surrounding species. Because of their impact, invasive species are said to be one of the biggest threats to endemic species in Australia. This is due to the fact that once these species die out, they will never be seen again in the world. Moving on to how extinction affects the people and environment in Australia, we first see the issue that in order to reduce extinction, Australia would need to remove invasive species. This is extremely costly and much of that cost would fall on the farmers or citizens of Australia in general. This brings about the idea that citizens and more specifically farmers are major stakeholders in the ever-growing extinction rates. Likewise, the cost of preserving wildlife is a major issue in the government. In order for organizations to survive, they need to receive funding from the government meaning they, too, are stakeholders. The government has to find the best ways to allocate money accordingly as well as finding the best organizations to fund; wildlife organizations being included. Wildlife organizations are also a stakeholder in the extinction rates in Australia because if the list of endangered species continues to rise, these organizations will struggle to afford the resources they need to continue running at their best. On the other hand, these organizations need endangered species to still be prevalent if they are going to stay in business meaning that this stakeholder can be looked at from a few different angles. The last stakeholder we are choosing to discuss is celebrities and the way that they as well as the media have an effect on the way the rest of the world perceives Australian wildlife. These stakeholders all play a large roll in the future of wildlife in Australia and they are important to recognize.