The NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 identifies and protects native plants and animals in danger of becoming extinct. The Act also provides for species recovery and threat abatement programs. More than 80 species of native plants and animals have recently become extinct in NSW and around 1000 more are threatened with extinction.
View the Threatened Species Conservation Act
The purpose of the Act is to:
- conserve biological diversity and promote ecologically sustainable development
- prevent the extinction and promote the recovery of threatened species, populations and ecological communities
- protect the critical habitat of those species, populations and ecological communities that are endangered
- eliminate or manage certain processes that threaten the survival or evolutionary development of threatened species, populations and ecological communities
- ensure that the impact of any action affecting threatened species, populations and ecological communities is properly assessed, and
- encourage the conservation of threatened species, populations and ecological communities through co-operative management.
The Act replaced earlier laws enacted in 1991, which provided for the designation of some animals as endangered and the regulation of activities affecting these animals and their habitat. The Act streamlined existing regulatory procedures under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NP&W Act). This allowed for the integration of threatened species assessment into the State's planning system and removed the requirement to obtain a separate threatened species licence in addition to development consent under the EP&A Act.
Endangered, vulnerable or extinct?
Schedule 1 of the TSC Act lists threatened species, populations and ecological communities and species that are endangered or presumed extinct. Schedule 2 lists vulnerable species and Schedule 3 lists key threatening processes.
- The TSC Act defines 'endangered' as a species, population or ecological community that is likely to become extinct or is in immediate danger of extinction.
- A species that is 'presumed extinct' has not been located in nature during the preceding fifty years despite the searching of known and likely habitats.
- A 'vulnerable' species is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate.
The Scientific Committee (the listing process)
The Scientific Committee is an independent group of ten scientists who are responsible for the listing of threatened species, populations and ecological communities under the TSC Act. The Scientific Committee considers all nominations for listing and makes a preliminary determination that is published for public comment. Any person may nominate to list or de-list a species, population or ecological community. Once submissions are reviewed the Scientific Committee makes a final determination to list, de-list or vary the status of the species, population or ecological community.
Recent changes to the threatened species legislation
While the existing legislation has brought significant increases in our knowledge and many important gains, more powerful tools are required to achieve conservation and recovery of our threatened biodiversity. The Threatened Species Legislation Amendment Act 2004, passed by Parliament in November 2004, signals the NSW Government’s commitment to further integrating conservation with mainstream decision-making about how we use land and build our economy.
The new reforms are aimed at establishing better frameworks and processes so that landholders, developers, farmers, community groups and government agencies can more effectively contribute to protecting the State’s biodiversity. They also aim to turn around negative perceptions about threatened species conservation that have arisen from the operation of the previous legislation.
The Amendment Act puts greater emphasis on land-use planning which focuses on the protection and restoration of native vegetation and threatened species habitat at the landscape scale and integrates with the Government’s other reforms to natural resource management and planning.
The Amendment Act in brief
The Amendment Act builds on the earlier legislation’s mechanisms for conserving threatened species, populations and ecological communities and their habitats. Parallel amendments have also been made to the Fisheries Management Act 1994. The key areas of reform are:
- in urban and coastal areas, integration of biodiversity values into better strategic land-use planning, changes to the development assessment process and accreditation of flora and fauna consultants
- in rural areas, threatened species conservation embedded within native vegetation protection to deliver a simpler and more supportive system of conservation incentives for landholders
- listing of threatened species maintained as a scientific process, with enhanced transparency
- transparent prioritisation of actions for recovery and threat abatement
- upgraded enforcement and compliance provisions, and
- expert advisory councils to advise the Minister for the Environment on social, economic and biodiversity implications.
Further information on the threatened species reforms:
Further threatened species information:
this page
