The koala population along the Great Ocean Road are “eating themselves out of house and home,” experts have warned.

It’s reported today the population has fallen by 80 per cent over two decades due to manna gums being destroyed by bushfire and drought.

Ian Derbyshire, CEO of the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, told Ross and John planting koala friendly vegetation and plants was one of the ways to improve the effects of the loss of habitat.

The increasingly small gene pool and the scarcity of food and vegetation is having devastating effects, he said.

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“Unfortunately koalas, one of our iconic species in Australia, like a lot of our species is under threat,” he said.

“The Victorian climate koalas really like, and so they grow and thrive quite well.

“But unfortunately we’ve removed vegetation to the point where koalas are effectively in limited islands of habitats and the connectivity around Australia is not what it used to be.”