Researchers say annual burns meant to reduce fuel loads and the threat of bushfires are impacting vulnerable species, including rare orchids in Western Australia's south-west.
Scientists are calling for a review of prescribed burning in Western Australia as a report warns of a grim future for the world's flora.Australian scientists say the WA government must change its prescribed burns policies to protect orchids in the state's southAlmost half of the world's flowering plants are facing the threat of extinction, according to research from the United Kingdom's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew which outlines the global situation for plants.
Some of the world's most threatened plants, native orchids, are only found in the southern half of Western Australia, where forests are routinely burned as part of a state fire prevention policy.Last week the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew released its 2023 State of the World's Plant and Fungi report, which found 45 per cent of flowering plant species were at risk of extinction in what it described as an "extinction crisis".
Last year 23 Australian orchids were added a list of threatened species, including seven from WA's south-west, bringing the total of Australian orchids on the list to 51. "When fires are outside of these times, they can't complete their vegetation cycle so they can't set seeds."Curtin University botany and conservation professor Kingsley Dixon said the WA government needed to adjust its fire management policy to protect threatened orchids, with smaller scale, more focused burns.
While acknowledging the role of prescribed burns in reducing fuel loads in the long-term, it said there was evidence burns increased fuel loads in the short and medium term, and harmed threatened species.Environment Minister Reece Whitby has backed the practice of prescribed burns, saying they are an important tool for preventing large bushfires.
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