Our responsibility to threatened species
The Lord Howe Island Board in association with the NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage and the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities are responsible for administering legislation to protect, manage and recover threatened species on Lord Howe Island.
Threatened species, populations and ecological communities are listed and managed according to the New South Wales NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Definition of threatened species
Threatened species are defined as species, populations and ecological communities that are considered to be at risk of extinction in the immediate to medium-term in NSW or Australia. Most species are subject to human-induced impacts and require specific management actions to ensure they do not continue to decline and become extinct. NSW and Commonwealth Acts provide lists of threatened species, populations, endangered ecological communities, and Key Threatening Processes.
Threatened species on Lord Howe Island
At least 60 species of animals and plants (excluding fish) are listed as threatened under NSW or Commonwealth legislation on Lord Howe Island. About 22 of these species are considered vagrants that only visit the Island occasionally, while the remainder are either resident or regular seasonal visitors or breeders.
Nine land birds, one mammal, at least 13 invertebrates and two species of plant have become extinct on the Island since human settlement.
The Lord Howe Island Board undertakes a range of threatened species recovery projects in collaboration with NSW and Commonwealth government agencies, universities and volunteer groups to assist in the recovery of threatened species to reduce the potential that these species continue to decline and slide towards extinction.
Threatened Flora, Fauna & Endangered Ecological Communities of Lord Howe Island