What happened: The parliament of New South Wales, Australia, passed legislation on Oct. 23 to create the Great Koala National Park on the state's Mid North Coast. It adds 178,000 hectares of state forest and other public land to existing parks, creating a protected area of 475,000 hectares that Mongabay says is home to 12,000 koalas and more than 100 other threatened species. The Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti people will help guide its management.

Why it matters: Koalas were declared endangered in NSW in 2022, and a 2020 parliamentary inquiry warned they could disappear from the state by 2050. Most of the added land was earmarked for native timber harvesting.

How much agreement is there? Some disagreement. Conservation groups and WWF-Australia call it a historic win. The fight is over funding: long-term money will come largely from carbon credits sold to emitting industries, which critics including Greens lawmakers and The Australia Institute call flawed offsets. Some also object to motorsport and other recreation allowed in parts of the park.

Could someone help? Local groups are still campaigning to add excluded koala habitat such as Pine Creek, and volunteers can join koala surveys and habitat work in the region.