Some personal reflections on the present and future of Australia’s fauna in an increasingly fire‐prone continent

Abstract

Australia already has the highest rate of species loss of any region in the world, yet the risks suddenly worsened in the spring–summer of 2019–20, with an unprecedented chain of wildfires covering 10 M ha of the nation’s forest and woodland estate. Fires of this scale were unprecedented and not factored into recovery plans for Threatened Species or ecosystem management in general. EMR asks one of Australia’s most pre‐eminent ecologists what can be done to ameliorate the losses and better avoid and respond to such impacts occurring in the future?