19 December, 2014
Broad-scale land clearing back on the cards
Proposals to scrap the state’s land-clearing laws are a significant threat to the state’s wildlife, leading NSW environment groups have warned.
The groups say repealing the Native Vegetation Act 2003, as proposed by the Independent Biodiversity Legislation Review Panel in its interim report today, would be a major backwards step unless significant safeguards were included in replacement legislation. [1]
The government-appointed panel has recommended a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s most important conservation laws, including the Native Vegetation Act, the Threatened Species Act, and parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
Key recommendations from the panel include:
• Repealing the Native Vegetation Act 2003
• Removing the “maintain or improve” standard in existing legislation
• Greater reliance on biodiversity offsets
• Shifting approval for vegetation clearing to the planning system
“These recommendations, if adopted, will likely lead to more land clearing and loss of species unless the replacement legislation enhances the existing protections,” said Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski.
“We have no guarantee this will happen, and we have no faith this government, given its cosy relationship with developers and the mining sector, will not use this review as an opportunity to weaken environment protections.
“There are currently more than 989 species of plants and animals, 49 populations, and 107 ecological communities threatened with extinction in NSW [2].
"The laws that this review proposes to remove have protected threatened species, vulnerable soils and watercourses for many years. We are prepared to oppose with all our energy any attempts to weaken these protections.”
Total Environment Centre Executive Director Jeff Angel said: "This report could well become known as a tragedy that placed our declining biodiversity, soils and water supplies in jeopardy.
“It starts off with a nice-sounding vision, but is then underlain by ill-defined thought bubbles that will be dissipated by local political influences and a planning system that have never shown themselves capable of sustainably protecting biodiversity.
“The Native Vegetation Act has largely stopped broadscale land clearing, protecting many species, vulnerable soils and watercourses - all key economic resources. It's highly doubtful this new recipe will achieve the same."
NSW National Parks Association of NSW Executive Director Kevin Evans said: “We are concerned the resources, culture, and political motivation needed to realise the panel’s full scope of recommendations may be lacking and the environment will suffer as a result.
“The effective implementation of the Panel’s recommendations will rely on key partnerships between stakeholders, such as Department of Planning and Environment and its internal Office of Environment and Heritage, Local Government, Local Lands Services, private land owners and the community.
“The government must foster those partnerships and provide adequate resourcing for the Panels’ recommendations to be successful.”
WWF National Manager (Science, Policy and Government Partnerships) Paul Toni said: “Native vegetation provides a wide variety of economic benefits including conserving topsoil, providing shelter for stock and crops from wind and weather, pollination and pest control, and moderating regional and global climate.
“As a result, over the past 20 years taxpayers have spent billions of dollars to reduce the impacts of clearing of native vegetation. [3]
“The poorly developed ideas in the independent panel’s report, particularly the proposal to remove the legal test that requires the local environment to be ‘improved or maintained’, suggests that much of that funding is about to be wasted.”
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversitylegislation/review.htm.
[2] EPA (2012) NSW State of the Environment Report 2012, Environmental Protection Authority, Sydney.
[3] www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/vegetation/nvinfosheet16a.pdf.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Total Environment Centre: Jeff Angel, 0418 273 773
NSW Nature Conservation Council: James Tremain, 0419 272 254
NSW National Parks Association: Kevin Evans, 0457 797 977
WWF: Paul Toni, 0410 086 986
Tags
Forests and wildlife
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