The Australian Environment and Water Minister said the government is committed to giving wildlife a better chance and will continue to list rare animals as endangered species.

The government program aims to prevent further extinction of native plant and animal species, and must also preserve at least 30% of the country’s territory intact. Among the endangered animals, in particular, the white-breasted wallaby from the kangaroo family was named.

According to scientists, these environmental measures will cost the government 1.69 billion Australian dollars (about 1.1 billion dollars) per year. Large-scale forest fires began on the east coast of Australia in mid-October 2019. The fire covered large areas in the southeast of the continent, as well as a number of areas in the south of the country. The situation improved only after heavy rains in the first ten days of February 2020. The fires destroyed more than 12 million hectares of forest and caused the death of about 3 billion animals. This event was recognized as an environmental disaster.