Australia's New Great Koala National Park

It will be the largest protected area in the state of New South Wales.

Credit: University of Sunshine Coast

Koalas are native to Australia, living in trees, munching on eucalyptus leaves and having the ability to sleep for up to 22 hours a day. They look very cute, cuddly, and pretty content, but they're having a hard time in the wild. In areas like New South Wales, they're listed as endangered - meaning that they're at risk of becoming extinct.

So, it's good news that the state government has confirmed its long-awaited great koala national park, announcing it will add 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves in mid-north New South Wales to create a total 467,000 hectares (1,800 square miles) and protect more than 12,000 koalas.

Forest advocates, who have spent more than a decade pushing successive state governments to establish a great koala national park, welcomed the “historic” announcement. “The creation of the Great Koala national park is one of the most significant conservation achievements in decades, made possible through the persistence of communities and advocacy groups who refused to give up,” said the charity Friends of the Koala.

The government said the new park would protect old-growth forests that were among the world’s biodiversity hotspots, home to more than 100 threatened species, including more than 12,000 koalas and 36,000 greater gliders, and important water catchments.

In more good news for the embattled koalas, approval has been granted for the world's first chlamydia vaccine for the marsupial. More than a decade in the making, the vaccine will protect koalas from the widespread disease that causes painful urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death. Developed by University of the Sunshine Coast scientists, with the support of global institutions and funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the vaccine is a milestone in the efforts to save vulnerable koalas.