The intersection between elected representatives and threatened species recovery

Abstract

A core objective of the conservation movement is to motivate government decision-makers into delivering critical policy changes to abate the global species extinction crisis. Using Australia as a case study, we showcase a way of highlighting the intersection between a nation’s elected representatives and extant threatened species. We analyse the relationship between Australia’s 151 Commonwealth Electoral Divisions (CEDs) and the distributions of 1,651 nationally listed threatened species. We show all CEDs contain at least 14 threatened species and nearly half of the species analysed (n=801, 49%) are confined to just one CED (n=44), with 1345 (81%) species intersecting with < five CEDs. These findings demonstrate the importance of enumerating the crisis to better understand the responsibility elected representatives have to their local region and constituents. Linking species distributions to political geography creates data that can be used by the conservation movement to motivate environmental accountability and leadership.