Australia is home to over a million different species of plants and animals, with some of them the focus of threatened species projects
Australia has one of the worst extinction rates in the world, and it is getting worse.
Last year alone, there were 144 species added to the threatened list, the most added in one year since the establishment of the list.
Fortunately, there are some wonderful conservation efforts happening that are aiming to protect these threatened flora and fauna.
Some of these projects you can also get involved with!
National Seed Bank
The National Seed Bank is located at the Australian National Botanical Gardens in Canberra.
The purpose of the centre is to protect against plant extinction through research, collection and storage of different plants.
FrogID
You can record frog calls and upload them to this app, where experts can identify them.
The app provides data about the number of sightings, and the geographic location of where certain species are in Australia.
Koala Map
With Koala habitats shrinking across Australia, Koala map was made for citizens to record sightings to keep tabs on populations.
You can record sightings alongside pictures of the Koala and other data (like whether it looks healthy) as well.
iNaturalist Christmas Beetle count
This project is organised by Invertebrates Australia.
Along with the recurring theme of this article, this project calls on citizens to take photos of Christmas beetles to gather sightings data and keep tabs on their populations.
Great Cocky count
This annual event takes place in the south-west of Western Australia in Autumn.
You can help out in the lead-up to the event by counting the number of roosts you see in trees between Geraldton and Esperance.
Interested in a conservation career?
If the sound of working on some of these projects as your full time job is exciting, here’s just some of the careers you can pursue that contribute towards environmental conservation:
- Environmental engineer
- Wildlife biologist
- Environmental educator
- Park ranger
- Ecologist
- Marine biologist
- Policy analyst
- Hydrologist
- Urban planner
- Renewable energy engineer
- Environmental scientist
Further reading
If you’re looking for a meaningful career where you can have a real impact as the world adapts to climate change, you need to check out our Conservation Biologist Job Kit.
In partnership with Macquarie University, this Job Kit includes real-life role models, study pathways and helpful info. on the emerging careers conservation biology graduates can aspire to.
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