There needs to be a greater integration of environment and heritage protections in Australia's emergency planning and responses, the royal commission into the nation's natural disaster preparedness has found.
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Convened following the Black Summer bushfires, the royal commission handed down its findings publicly on Friday.
Among them, was that the federal government needed to take a more active role during natural disasters and that the prime minister should be able to call a national state of emergency.
It warned of an inevitable increase in extreme weather events in the coming decades which prompted many calls for the government to become more serious about tackling climate change.
The report highlighted some of the destructive impacts the Black Summer bushfires had on Australia's environment and biodiversity.
Australia is home to an estimated 620,000 different species, or between seven and 10 per cent of the world's total number of species. The royal commission noted that the number of animals killed in the fires "greatly exceeded" 1 billion and more than 330 threatened species of plants and animals were affected.
The report recommended that the federal, state and territory governments needed to demonstrate greater consistency and collaboration in collating, storing and distributing data related to the spread and status of flora and fauna.
The commission heard evidence that emergency services respond to disasters by protecting people, property and the environment - in that order.
Emergency services rely on information from experts in targeting areas of environmental importance and in turn the protection of plants and animals by volunteer organisations could be greatly assisted by greater coordination by emergency services, it found.
The report highlighted the ACT's environment directorate and Emergency Services Agency for providing an example how incorporating environmental values into an emergency response can result in an improved result.
The incident management team tasked with responding to the highly destructive Orroral Valley fire in January included a values officer who provided advice on cultural and ecological values.
This collaboration resulted in the emergency services being able to target specific areas and save many culturally and environmentally significant sites.
NSW Nature Conservation Council chief executive Chris Gambian welcomed the recommendations that would see a similar approach to the ACT implemented nationally.
"We applaud the recommendation to better integrate the protection of environmental and heritage assets in emergency planning and response," he said.
"Under the current arrangements in NSW, old sheds and derelict houses receive more protection than environmental or cultural assets in an active fire situation."
The Humane Society International welcomed the finding that wildlife volunteers should be given greater training to work in emergency situations.