Australia's Environment 2021 report found increased decline in biodiversity

Eight birds, four frogs and a mammal were among the newly-listed threatened species, which included two fish, a snail and 18 plants.

Habitat loss from bushfires resulted in 10 species being upgraded to a higher risk of extinction in the last 12 months, according to a report by the Australian National University.

Only two species received improved conservation status in 2021, the golden sun moth and the giant barred frog, both now listed as vulnerable.

The change to a total of 1943 threatened species in Australia represents a 2.3 per cent increase from the previous year and a 39 per cent increase since 2000.

Australia's Environment 2021 report co-author Shoshana Rapley said habitat loss and degradation, as well as invasive species, presented the greatest threat to Australia's biodiversity.

Ms Rapley identified predators like foxes and cats as a major threat, as well as pathogens like myrtle rust and chytrid which was affecting amphibians.

Prior to a 2021 Threatened Species Strategy review, feral cats had been the only threat targeted, this will now include foxes, gamba grass and myrtle rust, according to the report.

Ms Rapley said it was really important to have the national inventory.

"And keep it fresh in our mind that Australia is the world leader in mammal extinction," she said.

"A quarter of the world's losses in the last 200 years have been in Australia."

Another 12 species were listed as extinct in 2021, 10 of which were historical and two, the Christmas Island pipistrelle last seen in 2009 and the Christmas Island forest skink last seen in 2010, were recent.

Ms Rapley said Australia had known about the threats facing native species for a long time but the decline had continued on unabated.

"The current systems not working. We're adding species to the list, we're accounting for them, but there's no change being made," she said.

Ms Rapley said the report should be a wake-up call that threatened species conservation needed to be taken more seriously.

With the CSIRO snubbed from pandemic support to supplement $459 million additional funding over four years announced in last year's budget, Ms Rapley said biodiversity investment was falling short.

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"There has been research going on to say that we should be spending at least 1 per cent of our GDP on protecting biodiversity," she said.

"When you look at the ecosystem services that it provides, the net return we get on that investment is anywhere between 10 to 100 times.

"We rely on trillions of dollars from the environment for things like our fisheries, our clean air, or clean water to drink and we need to take that into account when we're making these decisions.

"Otherwise, the future is not going to inherit the world that has those trillions of dollars worth of services, let alone the beautiful biodiversity that we cherish and contributes so much to the tourism sector, which is a really important staple of the Australian economy."

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