Conserving Australian lizards and snakes: an update on progress since 2017

The Action Plan for Australian Lizards and Snakes 2017 summarised results from the first comprehensive assessment of the Australian squamate fauna by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), updating a more precursory assessment in 1993. This review outlines the progress towards achieving the six key recommendations from the 2017 Action Plan. Our review highlights that the conservation of Australian squamates is hampered by a lack of coordinated conservation and recovery plans, inadequate resourcing for taxonomy, management and research, and insufficient monitoring of threatened species. Relative to species with adequate data for conservation assessments, we demonstrate that Data Deficient and Not Evaluated species are substantially more likely to be threatened (5.4 and 3 times more likely, respectively). In total, some 127 Australian squamate species (13.1%) are likely to be threatened based on our collation of information across a range of jurisdictions (IUCN Red List, National, State/Territory), plus incorporation of new empirical data and predictive modelling. The past decade has seen amplification of existing threats (e.g. 2019–2020 Australian megafires), and the emergence and improved understanding of several other threats to Australian squamates. We outline 11 recommendations to improve the conservation status of Australian lizards and snakes. Lizards and snakes are a key component of almost all Australian ecosystems, particularly in tropical, arid and semi-arid environments. Maintaining their diversity and abundance is vital for ecosystem functioning and Australia’s biological and cultural heritage.