A program to air on ABC on Tuesday night - Wild Australia: After the Fires - asks viewers to honour the wildlife lost in the "worst wildlife disaster in modern history".

The documentary said 12 million hectares - an area the size of England - went up in flames during the so-called "Forever Fires".

It describes how fire has shaped Australia, while its fauna has a "long, impressive history of surviving on the driest inhabited continent on Earth".

But as the last bushfire season has made "brutally clear", climate change is "shifting everything".

The program documents how the tragedy has "set the nation on the path to put meaningful protections in place to conserve its rare and irreplaceable creatures".

The story follows "hard-working carers, dedicated scientists and passionate volunteers", as they set about this challenge.

Narrated by Hugo Weaving, the program charts the ecological recovery through stories of hope, resilience and human intervention.

The program introduces viewers to inspiring people dedicating their lives to help wildlife survive, including Tim Faulkner - president of Aussie Ark at Barrington Tops.

"The fires were undoubtedly catastrophic. I mean, how can you explain a billion animals dying and millions of hectares burning?" Tim said.

"The fires should be a big reality check for everyone. What we've lost ... it's questionable if we can ever bring it back to what it was but, at all costs, we have to prevent it from happening again."

The program issues an urgent message to safeguard the environment and bring about the necessary intervention required to maintain biodiversity on our planet before it's too late.

It's part of the ABC Your Planet initiative, which enables audiences to counter challenges such as climate change and the toll of extreme weather events in their daily lives.

The ABC is encouraging Australians to hold a reflection event in the days following the broadcast of the documentary to "honour our lost wildlife".

It urges people to then have "a discussion with others about how we can each play a part in protecting our precious native species".

The documentary airs at 8.30pm Tuesday on ABC and iview.