Just letting everyone know that State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Region Growth Centres) 2006 was biocertified by the assistant minister. As with biobanking, the principle that biodiversity values are maintained or improved is the yardstick. The certification does not cover the whole of the growth centres but only certified areas. Within these certified areas, assessment of impacts on threatened species, populations and communities need not be undertaken.
The mapping was based on the growth centres conservation plan prepared by Eco Logical and released in February, which I think was circulated to the membership.
You may have read about the gazettal in the Sydney Morning Herald (Saturday) where the Total Environment Centre incorrectly argued that it avoids current threatened species laws. Actually biocertification is part of the TSC Act and I think if done properly will be better than the current Section 5A (7-part test) as large areas of habitat will be protected without inconsistent piecemeal approach of Section 5A. Whether this particular one will conserve enough land or provides enough compensatory habitat is debatable. I have only had a brief look at it so far but some important points are
- A minimum of 2000ha of native vegetation must be retained & protected
- Areas within the growth centres that are not certified can have native vegetation cleared (if necessary) but there are a number of provisos including offsets of vegetation lost from non-certified areas of the growth centres will be at a ratio of 3:1
- It does allow for further survey & assessment of a number of threatened species at specific locations
- A $530 million conservation fund will be established to be used for biodiversity conservation and regional open space purposes.
There is a lot more and it will take some digestion. When we all have our heads around it, I'll be interested to the response.
Paul
