‘Tangled mess of inaction’: hundreds of threatened species recovery plans expiring in next six month

Growing list facing extinction and under-resourcing of conservation means plans have not been updated.

Hundreds of plans for the recovery of threatened species will reach their use-by date in the next six months as the government considers how to reform Australia’s flawed system of environmental protections.

Documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws detail how underresourcing, disagreement with state governments, and the growing list of species threatened with extinction have constrained the federal environment department’s ability to get on top of a backlog of conservation work.

Environment groups said the material showed a “tangled mess of inaction” over the past decade and failure by past governments to update recovery plans every five years as required under national laws.

The environment department confirmed 372 recovery plans covering 575 species and ecosystems will sunset by the end of 2023 – 355 of those by the end of April.

They include plans for the northern and southern corroboree frogs and critically endangered birds such as the King Island scrubtit.

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