The Sunshine Coast Environment Council says rapid population growth is killing the region.

The group's spokeswoman, Narelle McCarthy, says development due to exponential growth has degraded environmental values to the point where the critical threshold has been exceeded.

She says the Sunshine Coast Council's Biodiversity Strategy shows there is only 42 per cent of remnant vegetation left on the coast and the damage is already irreversible.

Ms McCarthy says rapid population growth needs to managed and brought down to sustainable levels.

"We need to manage the carrying capacity of the region which takes into consideration the limits to growth and the natural resource limits as well," she said.

"Time and time again it's come through that the Sunshine Coast community does not want to become another Gold Coast.

"We're well on the way to doing that if we don't rein in the population."