When is a species impact statement required

The concept of Serious and Irreversible Impacts SAII is fundamentally about protecting threatened entities that are most at risk of extinction from potential development.

The Test of Significance ToS must be submitted with relevant supporting ecological documentation for the site. If vegetation clearing is not associated with a development consent or an activity, the approval pathway is defined by the zoning of the land except for land within the Newcastle LGA. As a result, any deferred matter land will be identified on the Native Vegetation Regulatory Map under the LLS Act and categorised according to the map method.

This includes land that is not rural in character such as urban, environmental conservation or environmental management zones. This extension continues only to apply to Councils in the Hunter and Central Coast Region that had not adopted Clause 5.

This extension of the Vegetation SEPP special transitional arrangements only applies to the following six member Councils within the region:. Key Considerations The assessment and approval pathways for biodiversity impacts will depend upon the purpose, nature, location and extent of the vegetation clearing proposed. The key questions relating to the biodiversity assessment and approval pathway are: Is my Local Government Area located within an Interim Designated Area?

Is the vegetation to be cleared native vegetation? What is the purpose of the vegetation clearing? Once you know which approval pathway you are in, the next step is to identify whether the proposed clearing is above or below the Biodiversity Offset Scheme threshold. The effective participation of relevant stakeholders, including indigenous and local communities, is a precondition for a successful EIA.

Although legislation and practice vary around the world, the fundamental components of an EIA would necessarily involve the following stages:. Monitor whether the predicted impacts and proposed mitigation measures occur as defined in the EMP.

Verify the compliance of proponent with the EMP, to ensure that unpredicted impacts or failed mitigation measures are identified and addressed in a timely fashion. Screening is used to determine which proposals should be subject to EIA, to exclude those unlikely to have harmful environmental impacts and to indicate the level of assessment required.

Screening criteria have to include biodiversity measures, or else there is a risk that proposals with potentially significant impacts on biodiversity will be screened out. The outcome of the screening process is a screening decision. Since legal requirements for EIA may not guarantee that biodiversity will be taken into account, consideration should be given to incorporating biodiversity criteria into existing, or the development of new, screening criteria.

Important information for developing screening criteria can be found in national biodiversity strategies and action plans NBSAPs or equivalent documents.

These strategies provide detailed information on conservation priorities and on types and conservation status of ecosystems. Furthermore they describe trends and threats at ecosystem as well as species level and provide an overview of planned conservation activities.

Pertinent questions from a biodiversity perspective. Taking into account the three objectives of the Convention, fundamental questions which need to be answered in an EIA study include:.

To facilitate the development of screening criteria, the questions above have been reformulated for the three levels of diversity, reproduced in table 1 below. Does the intended activity affect the sustainable human exploitation of an ecosystem s or land-use type s in such manner that the exploitation becomes destructive or non-sustainable i.

Would the intended activity cause a direct or indirect loss of a population of a species? Would the intended activity result in extinction of a population of a localized endemic species of scientific, ecological, or cultural value?

A disadvantage of this approach is that the significance of impacts of projects varies substantially depending on the nature of the receiving environment, which is not taken into account.

A few countries use or have used negative lists, identifying those projects not subject to EIA exclusion lists. Both types of lists should be reassessed to evaluate their inclusion of biodiversity aspects;. The advantage of this approach is that the emphasis is on the sensitivity of the receiving environment rather than on the type of project;.

Biodiversity expertise should be included in expert teams; and. A screening decision defines the appropriate level of assessment. The result of a screening decision can be that:. It is advisable not to pursue the proposed project. Biodiversity-inclusive screening criteria set out circumstances in which EIA is justified on the basis of biodiversity considerations.

They may relate to:. The suggested approach takes account of biodiversity values including valued ecosystem services and activities that might impact drivers of change of biodiversity. If possible, biodiversity-inclusive screening criteria should be integrated with the development or revision of a national biodiversity strategy and action plan.

This process can generate valuable information such as a national spatial biodiversity assessment, including conservation priorities and targets, which can guide the further development of EIA screening criteria.

Step 1 : According to the principles of the ecosystem approach, a biodiversity screening map is designed, indicating important ecosystem services replacing the concept of sensitive areas — see appendix 2 below.

The map is based on expert judgement and has to be formally approved. Suggested categories of geographically defined areas, related to important ecosystem services, are:.

Protected areas : depending on the legal provisions in a country these may be defined as areas in which no human intervention is allowed, or as areas where impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail is always required;.

Areas containing threatened ecosystems outside of formally protected areas , where certain classes of activities see step 2 would always require an impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail;. Areas identified as being important for the maintenance of key ecological or evolutionary processes , where certain classes of activities see step 2 would always require an impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail;.

Areas known to be habitat for threatened species , which would always require an impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail. Examples can be wetlands, highly erodable or mobile soils protected by vegetation e. Examples can be extractive reserves, lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by indigenous and local communities, fish breeding grounds; etc.

Examples can be scenic landscapes, heritage sites, sacred sites; etc. Step 2: Define activities for which impact assessment may be required from a biodiversity perspective. The activities are characterized by the following direct drivers of change:. Above a defined length, EIA always required, regardless of the location of the activity — define thresholds for level of assessment in terms of the length of the proposed infrastructural works;.

It should be noted that these criteria only relate to biodiversity and serve as an add-on in situations where biodiversity has not been fully covered by the existing screening criteria. Determining norms or threshold values for screening is partly a technical and partly a political process the outcome of which may vary between countries and ecosystems. The technical process should at least provide a description of:.

Scoping is used to define the focus of the impact assessment study and to identify key issues, which should be studied in more detail. It is used to derive terms of reference sometimes referred to as guidelines for the EIA study and to set out the proposed approach and methodology. Scoping also enables the competent authority or EIA professionals in countries where scoping is voluntary to:. During the scoping phase, promising alternatives can be identified for in-depth consideration during the EIA study.

The purpose of enhancement is to look for ways of optimizing environmental benefits. Both mitigation and enhancement of impacts should strive to ensure that the public or individuals do not bear costs, which are greater than the benefits that accrue to them. Remedial action can take several forms, i. One should acknowledge that compensation will not always be possible: there are cases where it is appropriate to reject a development proposal on grounds of irreversible damage to, or irreplaceable loss of, biodiversity.

Specialist input on biodiversity can take place prior to initiating the legally required EIA process, as a component of the project proposal. This approach improves and streamlines the formal EIA process by identifying and avoiding, preventing or mitigating biodiversity impacts at the earliest possible stage of planning;. The following sequence of questions provides an example of the kind of information that should be requested in the terms of reference of an impact study if the project screening suggests that the proposed activity is likely to have adverse impacts on biodiversity.

It should be noted that this list of steps represents an iterative process. Scoping and impact study are two formal rounds of iteration; during the study further iterative rounds may be needed, for example when alternatives to the proposed project design have to be defined and assessed.

Give indication of the level certainty of predictions, and take into account mitigation measures. Highlight any irreversible impacts and any irreplaceable loss;. Give an indication of the main beneficiaries and those adversely affected from an ecosystem services perspective, focusing on vulnerable stakeholders;. Make reference to any legal requirements;. Relate the importance of expected impacts to a reference situation, which may be the existing situation, a historical situation, a probable future situation e.

When determining importance weight , consider geographic importance of each residual impact e. Identify important gaps in knowledge;. One should bear in mind that not implementing a project may in some cases also have adverse effects on biodiversity. In rare cases the adverse effects may be more significant than the impacts of a proposed activity e. Baseline conditions are dynamic, implying that present and expected future developments if the proposed project is not implemented autonomous development need to be included;.

Potential indirect and cumulative impacts should be better assessed;. The conservation of ecosystem processes, which support composition and structure, requires a significantly larger proportion of the landscape than is required to represent biodiversity composition and structure;.

Impact assessment is concerned with i information, ii participation and iii transparency of decision-making. In all stages of EIA public participation is relevant. The legal requirements for and the level of participation differ among countries, but it is generally accepted that public consultation at the scoping and review stage are essential; participation during the assessment study is generally acknowledged to enhance the quality of the process.

There is a number of potential constraints to effective public participation. These include:. EIA should be an iterative process of assessing impacts, re-designing alternatives and comparison. The main tasks of impact analysis and assessment are:. This includes the identification of indirect and cumulative impacts, and of the likely cause—effect chains;.

Assessing impacts usually involves a detailed analysis of their nature, magnitude, extent and duration, and a judgement of their significance, i.

Available biodiversity information is usually limited and descriptive, and cannot be used as a basis for numerical predictions. There is a need to develop biodiversity criteria for impact evaluation and measurable standards or objectives against which the significance of individual impacts can be evaluated. The priorities and targets set in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan process can provide guidance for developing these criteria.

Tools will need to be developed to deal with uncertainty, including criteria on using risk assessment techniques, precautionary approach and adaptive management. A number of practical lessons with respect to the study process have emerged including that the assessment should:. Explain the main risks and opportunities for biodiversity;. This does not necessarily imply that all requests need to be honoured; however, clear reasons should be provided where requests are not honoured;.

If council requires you to submit a Biodiversity Development Assessment Reports BDAR , it is best that you are well prepared before you prepare the final design of your proposed development. The best way to do this is to undertake an Ecological Constraints Assessment that details all of the ecological or other environmental constraints that may arise during the DA. The sooner you know of these issues, the better prepared you, your Architect or Town Planner will be when submitting the DA.

If you are contemplating purchasing a property or submitting a DA for property subdivision, dwelling alterations, demolition, or construction, we recommend you commission an Ecological Constraints Assessment Report. A good Ecological Constraints Assessment Report will:.

Save you extensive amounts of time and money down the track;. Help you, your architect or your planner design a development footprint that has the best chance of DA approval;.

Inform you if there are additional specialist reports you may need for your DA; and. Allow you to most appropriately and efficiently design your development to best avoid difficult environmental constraints in the DA stage, rather than risking possible Council knock-back after DA submission.

They include maps that show the most constrained parts of the property through to the least constrained, along with detailed information on what the constraints entail and how they may be avoided, mitigated or offset in order to facilitate development. Disclaimer: Some of the information presented on this page has been copied directly from the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage []. Narla accepts no responsibility for decisions made using information pasted on this website.

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