Threatened Species and threatened ecological communities
Communities for Communities Newsletter
Three categories exist for listing threatened ecological communities. An ecological community may be categorised:
The assessment of an ecological community as threatened is the first step to promoting their recovery under Commonwealth law.
Any person may nominate an ecological community for listing under any of the three categories.
An invitation to nominate is extended by the Minister each year ahead of a new assessment cycle. Nominations received during the invitation period are considered by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) for inclusion in a Proposed Priority Assessment List.
Nominations included on the Finalised Priority Assessment List are assessed by the Committee, which makes these nominations available for public and expert comment.
After assessment, the Committee's advice is forwarded to the Minister, who decides whether an ecological community is eligible for listing under the EPBC Act.
For further information on the nominations process read:
Two documents, a factsheet and a policy paper, dealing with issues relating to the definition and assessment of threatened ecological communities are available in:
Once an ecological community is listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) its recovery is promoted using conservation advice, recovery plans, and the EPBC Act's assessment and approval provisions.
Conservation advice is developed by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee based on the best available information regarding the conservation status and threats to an ecological community at the time of listing. Conservation Advice provides guidance on known threats and priority recovery actions for an ecological community that can be immediately undertaken at a local and regional level.
In addition to conservation advice, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee also provides to the Minister a recommendation on the need for a recovery plan for listed ecological communities. Recovery plans are comprehensive management tools that enable recovery activities for threatened ecological communities to occur within a planned and logical framework. They describe key threats and identify specific recovery actions.
Listed threatened ecological communities are matters of national environmental significance (protected matters) under the EPBC Act's assessment and approval provisions.
A person must not take an action that has, will have, or is likely to have, a significant impact on a listed threatened ecological community, without approval from the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.
To obtain approval, an action must undergo an environmental assessment and approval process. To find out whether an action is likely to have a 'significant' impact on a listed threatened ecological community, see the EPBC Act Policy Statements
For a comprehensive understanding of the provisions relating to listed threatened ecological communities, you should refer directly to the:
For general information about threatened species and threatened ecological communities contact the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Community Information Unit - Email: ciu@environment.gov.au or Freecall 1800 803 772.
