If land clearing in New South Wales continues at the current rate, Koalas face extinction in the state by 2050according to a leading conservation biologist.

The new report released by WWF Australia and the Nature Conservation Council (NCC) examines satellite images of northern NSW to assess land clearing and its impact on Koalas since last year's repeal of the 2003 Native Vegetation Act.  The quintessential Aussie tree climber is considered "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List, although the Australian Koala Association says that should be "critically endangered" in some areas.

"We see koala habitat disappearing at an alarming rate," said conservation biologist Martin Taylor, "The numbers are low, and everybody out there is telling us that koalas are dropping terribly.

"If we project that forward, it could be mid-century by the time we may have no more wild koalas in NSW," Taylor said.

Despite the fact that the report found that the rate of land clearing tripled - from 2,845 hectares in 2016-17, to 8,194 hectares in 2017-18 - the NSW Government has rubbished Mr Taylor's warning.

"The WWF and NCC are playing politics and scaremongering," the statement read.  "The NSW Government's Koala Strategy - the biggest commitment by any state government to secure koalas in the wild - will provide more natural habitat for koalas, tackle diseases, improve research, and fix roadkill hotspots.  The NSW Government has committed $45 million for this strategy."