Invasive vertebrates are the biggest driver of animal extinctions in Australia and imperil more than 500 threatened species while causing massive landscape degradation. Despite some successes – particularly island eradications and fenced havens – most threats remain highly potent. Current management efforts are often fragmented, thinly spread, under-funded, short term and ineffective.
Evidence from island eradications proves wildlife rebounds dramatically when invasive threats are controlled. Australia has the scientific talent and resources—what’s missing is the coordinated, sustained effort to move innovations from concept to continent-wide impact.
Australia’s struggle isn’t due to lack of scientific talent or dedication – it’s more a systemic failure to move innovations from lab to landscape. Promising ideas languish and projects routinely stall due to short-term funding, bureaucratic entanglement, and absence of end-to-end support systems.