Sitting on a fallen log, surrounded by stressed eucalypts in regional Victoria, Janine Duffy tears up as she tell a personal story of the heartache of watching these forests, and the wild koalas within them, slowly fade away.
For more than two decades, Janine, the founder and president of the Koala Clancy Foundation has walked these bushland tracks. But today, stepping into the forest carries a weight it didn’t have before the biodiversity crisis.
“It’s really quite hard for me these days to walk in these forests, because I saw them when they were full of life,” Janine says, gesturing toward the surrounding trees. “There was a time when I could walk in this forest and almost guarantee I would find four koalas, all of which I knew, and had known their whole lives. Now I walk here and I don’t expect to find any.”
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Across Australia, biodiversity and wildlife is collapsing. It rarely makes breaking news, but it leaves landscapes stripped of their ecological complexity, and nature-lovers bereft.
The heartbreak below the surface
While habitat loss is often discussed in terms of lost hectares, it’s human and animal toll is deeply personal.
As wildlife habitats decline, mothers struggle to find enough quality foliage to nourish their young.
“Not everyone thinks that koalas have feelings like people, but you know what, I do,” Janine reflects. “I see these mothers putting everything they have into raising a joey that ultimately dies because they can’t get enough food, and they don’t know why.”
Without healthy, connected forests, surviving koalas are squeezed into shrinking pockets of bush, triggering territorial conflicts that frequently lead to injury and death.
Yet the koala is only the most visible face of a much wider decline. Koalas are an indicator species that show the overall health of their whole environment. When koalas disappear from an area, it is a sign that many native animals are likely to slip away as well.
Guilt, responsibility, and the next generation
For Janine, the decline brings a sense of intergenerational obligation.
“I feel terribly guilty to the next generation who will be coming here on walks and not seeing koalas, knowing that I was part of the generation that let that happen,” she admits. “To the little girl who might be 10 or 11 years old, who’s never going to see what I have seen… I’m really very sorry.”
“Think of your sons and daughters, your nieces and nephews,” Janine urges. “Do they not deserve a right to see what you’ve seen? They do.”
Turning hope into action
Despite the quiet severity of the crisis, the message is far from hopeless.
“I believe in people and I believe that we will fix this,” Janine says firmly. “The next generation might be the one who takes biodiversity seriously. But we can’t sit back and let them do it all. We have to help them, and do it soon.”
The Koala Clancy Foundation’s 2026 Christmas Appeal focuses directly on this challenge, directing donor support into high-impact habitat revegetation. By planting climate-resilient native trees and reconnecting fragmented corridors across public and private land, community-led action is proving that degraded ecosystems can heal when given the chance.
The forest may have grown quiet, but with immediate, targeted effort, the canopy can sing again.
Be part of the turnaround
We believe in people, and we believe that together, we can fix this before it’s too late. By creating healthy, interconnected habitat corridors, we give wild koalas and surrounding ecosystems room to heal and thrive.
As the festive season arrives, please consider supporting vital habitat restoration to bring life back to our forests for future generations.
How your donation helps biodiversity
$30 plants and protects native trees to expand wildlife corridors.
$75 funds habitat restoration that supports koalas alongside native birds and bioindicator species.
$150 helps secure land restoration projects that restore entire local ecosystems for future generations.
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Every dollar raised goes directly towards hands-on habitat restoration and saving local ecosystems. Let’s do it together, and let’s do it soon.
