Our new scientific assessment prepared by koala experts Biolink Ecological Consultants, prepared for the Sydney Basin Koala Network (SBKN) as part of its 2026 Annual Progress Report, finds 80% of Sydney’s highest-carrying capacity koala habitat in Liverpool and Campbelltown is exposed to clearing and development pressure, with 28% of high quality habitat at risk within 8 focal area LGAs with established koala populations across the Sydney Basin. Environmental groups are calling for urgent protection to stem decline of the endangered species in the Sydney Basin.

In total, it has revealed 65,124 hectares of mapped koala habitat across key koala populations in the Sydney Basin exposed to elevated risk of clearing, modification or fragmentation.

In Liverpool, a staggering 77% of Primary habitat and 84% of Class 2A habitat is exposed to current or future development pressure. Overall, 52% (442 ha) of all mapped koala habitat in Liverpool falls within a risk category.

In Campbelltown, 77% of Primary habitat and 87% of Class 2A habitat are within identified risk categories, with 23% (2171 ha) of all mapped koala habitat exposed to elevated risk.

The problem extends across the Sydney Basin:

• Lake Macquarie - 29% of total mapped koala habitat in a risk category (6167 ha)

• Sutherland - 27% (801 ha)

• Cessnock - 22% (28719 ha)

• Wingecarribee - 11% (6960 ha)

• Wollondilly - 5% (5702 ha)

• Hawkesbury - 4% (10152 ha)

These figures should be a wake-up call to government ministers and urban planners. Some of the most valuable koala habitat we have left is sitting directly in the path of urban expansion and other forms of land-use change.

SBKN is calling for:

• Protect high-quality habitat from clearing. Strengthen avoidance requirements for Primary and Class 2A koala habitat and stop treating different habitat types as interchangeable offsets.

• Statutory protection for recognised koala corridors and movement pathways.

• Assessment of the cumulative impacts of habitat clearing, fragmentation, roads and development across koala populations and landscapes in the Sydney Basin.

• Reform of the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan and other planning mechanisms that currently cut off and expose important koala habitat to modifications and clearing.

The report, Koala Habitat, Connectivity and Clearing Risk Across the Sydney Basin Bioregion, found that the greatest development pressure is falling disproportionately on the highest-quality koala habitat.

The report uses four Preferred Koala Habitat (PKH) classes: Primary, 2A, 2B and 2C, which represent different potential carrying capacities of vegetation for koalas. Primary habitat has the potential to support high-density populations, with the historical benchmark used in the cited assessment being more than 0.5 koalas per hectare (or 50 koalas per 100 hectares).

Class 2A (Secondary A) contains primary food trees, but they are sub-dominant. Class 2B (Secondary B) lacks dominant primary food trees, with secondary food trees dominating. Class 2C (Secondary C) is associated with low-density populations, using a benchmark of fewer than 0.1 koalas per hectare (or 10 koalas per 100 hectares).

The report found that in several areas, important koala habitat overlaps urban growth areas, Greenfield Housing Code land, infrastructure corridors and other planning frameworks that can facilitate land-use change.

The report also identifies extensive risk in Liverpool LGA, with koala habitat around Holsworthy, Glenfield, Long Point and the Georges River corridor at risk, and in Campbelltown and Wollondilly, particularly around Gilead, Menangle Park, Glenfield, Appin and Wilton. In Lake Macquarie, large areas of mapped habitat around Cameron Park and Edgeworth intersect land strategically committed to urban development, with satellite imagery showing that some High Risk habitat has already been cleared.

Land clearing for a housing development in Cameron Park, Lake MacQuarie. credit: Save Link Road Forest

An area classified as at risk does not mean it will necessarily be cleared, rather it identifies habitat where planning settings, land tenure or proximity to development indicate an elevated likelihood of clearing, modification or fragmentation that requires more formal protection to ensure koalas can persist in the Sydney Basin. 

The difference between Primary and Class 2C is habitat that supports 50 koalas per 100 hectares, or habitat that supports 10 koalas per 100 hectares, yet koala habitat is cleared indiscriminately. We cannot get koalas off the endangered list if the habitat that supports the most koalas is most frequently targeted by development planning. We know where the important habitat is and we know where the greatest risks are. The question now is whether the NSW government will step in and make the changes to protect high carrying capacity habitat before koalas disappear in the Sydney Basin.