Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 13406–16479

and maintained as Critically Endangered;
          eligibility listing criterion 1A4(b) – a very severe (greater than 80%) decline in population size over a combination of the recent past and near future (that is, over a total of three possum generations (18 years) from 2006 to 2024) based on an appropriate index of abundance (abundance of hollow-bearing trees).
    * Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic): Critically Endangered.
    * International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (2014): Critically Endangered.

2.2                 About this recovery plan
This document constitutes the National Recovery Plan for Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri). The plan considers the conservation requirements of the species across (and beyond) its range and identifies the actions to stop the decline, and support the recovery, of the species such that its chances of long-term survival in nature are maximised (EPBC Act s 270(1)).
This plan replaces the previous 'Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) Recovery Plan' (Macfarlane et al. 1997) in place since November 1997. A review of the previous Recovery Plan (available at Review of the 1997 Recovery Plan for Leadbeater's Possum) concluded that most recovery actions had been implemented to some extent over the life of the plan and a range of measures had been introduced to protect Leadbeater's possum habitat. Additionally, all 13 recommendations from the Leadbeater's Possum Advisory Group (LPAG), established in 2013, were implemented. Nevertheless, the species status continued to deteriorate such that in 2015 the TSSC increased its threatened status to Critically Endangered and reaffirmed this in 2019.
This new Recovery Plan has been developed in response to several key changes over the life of the previous Plan including:
    * the continuing and projected decline in the species' population size and the extent and quality of its habitat (especially the abundance of large hollow-bearing trees);
    * changed circumstances for population and habitat trajectories following the 2009 bushfires and the continuation of timber harvesting;
    * new information on the species' ecology, distribution, habitat and management;
    * a need to reassess some policies, management regulations and guidelines to improve the conservation prospects for the species;
    * the Victorian Government's announcement in May 2023 that native timber harvesting will cease on 1 January 2024.

2.3                 Urgent need and emergency response
All Recovery Plans describe priority management needs for species that are threatened with extinction. However, this Recovery Plan identifies a particular need for urgent conservation management responses.
In its assessment of the conservation status of this species, the TSSC (2019) concluded that the population of the species (explicitly as informed by data on the abundance of old or hollow-bearing trees) had declined and would continue to decline by more than 80% over three generations (18 years) spanning the