'The joint consequences of sickness, urbanization, and failure of habitat over the last 20 years have resulted to the report,' Ley said in a statement. Conservationists have long advocated for stronger koala protection, citing catastrophic population losses across the country.

WWF-Australia, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and Humane Society International collectively submitted the listing to the government in April 2020, following research that revealed population losses of around 50% in Queensland and 62 percent in New South Wales since 2001. The new designation, according to WWF-Australia, is a 'bittersweet consequence but an important step' in reversing those decreases. 'Since koalas are Endangered, they and their forest habitats should be afforded greater security under Australia's primary environmental laws,' the group declared on Twitter. 'Not only will this help to save the famed animal, but it will also help to safeguard many other species that coexist with it.'

According to Ley, following the new categorization, the government would begin work on a koala treatment method, with a budget of 74 million Australian dollars. The future planning process would consider the potential impact on the animal. This decision is a two-edged sword, according to IFAW Oceania Regional Director Rebecca Keeble in a statement. We should never have let things deteriorate to the point that we're at threat of failing a national symbol. It is a bad day for our country.

'This must serve as a wake-up call to Australia and the government to act much more quickly to safeguard key habitat from development and land clearance, as well as to truly address the implications of climate change.' Thousands of koalas are believed to have perished in the fires that ravaged Australia's eastern and southern regions in late 2019 and early 2020. Last year, an inquiry in New South Wales, Australia's most populated state, warned that the koala would become extinct by 2050.