Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p36
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
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Character Range: 169121–172015

et al. 2006) and there are no water mouse records from potential habitat within the highly urbanised Brisbane City local government area (LGA), despite adjacent and nearby LGAs – Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Redland City, Gold Coast – supporting populations.
Occupied water mouse habitat along the Mackay coast occurs adjacent to areas that are subject to clearing and modification for housing and aquaculture (Ball 2004), but the water mouse tends not to survive long-term in areas where there is development inland from mangrove habitat (CITES 2019). This does not bode well for the future of the water mouse in the greater Mackay area, particularly with the additional threat of habitat loss due to coastal squeeze as sea levels rise (see Section 4.2).
It is very likely that historical coastal development has caused a significant unmonitored decline in the national water mouse population and undetected localised extirpations along the southern and central Queensland coast due to insufficient knowledge about this species' occurrence and its response to coastal development. This situation was undoubtably exacerbated by the unrecognised management responsibilities of the land owners, managers and Custodians of areas with water mouse habitat.
Northern Australia
The impacts of coastal development on the water mouse along the north Queensland coast (i.e. Mackay to Cooktown) and in the Torres Strait are unknown but may be significant in the Townsville and Cairns regions.
Apart from a few localised areas (e.g. Darwin, Weipa), there is very little coastal development in Cape York, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and across the Top End of the Northern Territory (including the Tiwi Islands) and poor knowledge about the water mouse distribution.

4.2                  Rapid sea level rise with climate change
The water mouse is at high risk of significant and ongoing declines due to rapid inundation of mangroves and other coastal habitats as sea levels rise with the progression of climate change (Russell & Hale 2009; Traill et al. 2011). Loss of wetland habitat due to sea-level rise caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is a recognised Key Threatening Process for threatened species in Australia.
Coastal environments, particularly mangroves, are dynamic and generally well adapted to changing sea-level conditions (Duke et al. 2015; Woodroffe et al. 2016; Woodroffe 2018; Saintilan et al. 2020) and the water mouse is able to adjust to gradual small-scale sea-level changes in southeast Queensland (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003). However, it is unlikely that mangrove communities – which are the primary feeding habitat for the water mouse – will be able to adapt to the rapid sea-level rises that are predicted over the next century, particularly along the southern Queensland coast with its low tidal range and restrictions on downstream movement of sediment due to dams