New South Wales plans to set aside thousands of hectares of land at a $45 Million program to protect threatened Koalas.

"It's an excellent first step" said Professor Rebecca Johnson, the director of science at the Australia Museum.  "The most important thing is trees for them to live in, and leaves for them to eat," she continued as quoted by the ABC.  "Koala conservation is complicated - they have a very coastal distribution, they have a very specific diet, of largely, entirely eucalyptus leaves."

NSW Office Of Environment & Heritage

The little guys' population has declined by about 26 percent over the past two decades in NSW, due to development and pressure on their natural habitat.

"They've suffered the impacts of urbanisation when land is cleared for developments or housing," said Professor Johnson.

The plan calls for conserving more than 20,000 hectares of state forest on the Central Coast, Southern Highlands, North Coast, Hawkesbury, and Hunter, which will be used as new koala reserves.  Another 4,000 hectares of native forest on the Mid North Coast is slated to be transferred to the National Parks Estate.

"It would be such a shame if this nationally iconic marsupial did not have its future secured," said Premier Gladys Berejikilian said at an announcement at Taronga Zoo. roksa