The NSW government is offering to pay landowners for their koala-inhabited lands but conservationists insist there's a better way to preserve the marsupials' habitat.
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Private "good quality" land including koala habitat is being sought by the state government so it can be managed and conserved by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The coalition has a kitty of $20 million to purchase the private land as part of a broader $45 million package to protect koalas in the wild.
But environmental groups have questioned why the government is forking out extra money when it could instead protect the koala habitats that exist on land the government already owns.
"There is a lot of koala habitat on state land which the government doesn't want to protect," Wilderness Society national director Lyndon Schneiders told AAP on Wednesday.
"Why are they coming up with $20 million to buy koala habitat when they could strengthen land clearing laws?"
National Parks Association senior ecologist Oisin Sweeney says the $20 million investment won't buy enough land to save koalas and he's urging the government to protect koala habitat in state forests.
Stronger tree clearing and development regulation is needed as well, given koala habitats across NSW have been destroyed because of the rapid rate of urban development, Dr Sweeney said.
Both groups want a Great Koala National Park established to protect 175,000 hectares of prime koala habitat in state forests on the NSW north coast.
NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton insists that purchasing suitable private land will increase habitat corridors and linkages.
"The NSW government is determined to increase the amount of land where koalas can safely live and be protected from predators," Ms Upton said in a statement on Wednesday.
The government in May announced it would set aside more than 24,000 hectares of unproductive state forest for the iconic animal.
But the move was criticised by the Nature Conservation Council which claimed only two per cent of the land is high-quality koala habitat.
The preserved land is also away from the coastal forests where the best koala habitats exist, the not-for-profit organisation said at the time.
Australian Associated Press
