Vegetation Clearing
Legislation
Twenty-seven
academics from universities across Queensland with expertise in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development are
urging Premier Campbell Newman to reconsider proposed
changes to the Vegetation Management Act.
The scientists are expressing grave concerns
about the future impacts of proposed changes to Queensland’s Vegetation
Management Act and the Water Act. There are warnings of devastating
habitat and species loss if changes to the state’s land clearing laws go ahead.
The concerned scientists believe amendments will include allowing a new
category of broadscale native vegetation clearing and remove the protections
which previously prevented clearing of mature regrowth of threatened plant
communities and of vegetation along many watercourses.
However, Minister Cripps claims the package of
reforms will maintain key environmental protections such as buffer zones along
creeks and rivers in sensitive reef areas.
The concerns of the Scientists about the
changes to Vegetation Management include:
· Land
clearing is the greatest current threat to Australia’s biodiversity,
· Vegetation
loss is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions,
· degradation
and reduced water quality in waterways and estuaries,
· dryland
salinity and
· lost
ecosystems.
The changes the Qld Government are proposing to make to vegetation
management laws are intended to support growth in agricultural production,
provide jobs and boost regional economies. However, restoration of lost
ecosystems can cost more than $20,000 per hectare. Avoiding the loss of
ecosystems in the first place is far more cost-effective.
Green groups are coming under fire from the Minister
for Natural Resources and Mines for opposing these changes.
The
World Wide Fund have produced a
report that provides the
first estimates of environmental values potentially placed at-risk of renewed clearing
due to the proposed changes to land clearing legislation in Queensland
Successive Qld Governments in the 1990s
to 2009 bought in laws which provided strong protection for bushland. Before the Vegetation
Management Act came into effect Qld was experiencing some of the highest rates
of clearing in the world – similar to Brazil’s clearing of the Amazon. Once the
new laws started to take effect clearing rates declined from a massive 750,000ha
a year before laws were introduced in 1999 to 77,590ha in 2009-10.
An amendment bill was introduced into parliament in March and
referred to the parliamentary
committee for State Development, Infrastructure and Industry, which is due to
report back on this week.
Environmental Offset
Policy Review
Environmental offsets were originally
established to replace environmental values lost through development. At the moment, the Qld Government has five Environmental
Offset Policies:
· Qld
Government Environmental Offsets Policy (administered by Department of
Environment and Heritage Protection –offsets@ehp.qld.gov.au)
· Qld
Biodiversity Offset Policy (administered by Department of Environment and
Heritage Protection –offsets@ehp.qld.gov.au)
· Offset
for Net Gain of Koala Habitat in South East Qld Policy (administered by
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection - seqkoala@ehp.qld.gov.au)
·
Policy for Vegetation Management Offsets (administered by
Department of Natural Resources and Mines –vmenquireis@dnrm.qld.gov.au)
·
Marine Fish Habitat Offset Policy (administered by Department of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
General information about
offsets and the policies can still be found on the
EHP website, however there is currently a
review of the department’s web material, which has resulted in some documents
being unavailable at this time.
In relation to the future of Qld’s
offset policies, the Qld Government committed, through the
Six Month Action Plan July to December 2012, to review the overarching
framework for the Biodiversity Offsets Policy. The review will create a single
policy that incorporates requirements of all five existing Qld Government
offset policies.
The Department of Environment
and Heritage Protection is leading this review.
The single policy will address
all Qld Government offset requirements and could be adopted as the foundation
for local government offset policies if desired by councils.
The review seeks to reduce
costs for government and industry; promote strategic biodiversity outcomes; and
provide for shelf ready products that enable rapid approvals for projects.
This review is not linked to
the review of assessment requirements or triggers under legislation. These are
being undertaken separately to development of this policy.
However, where there is a State
assessment requirement to avoid, mitigate and offset impacts – the single State
Government Environmental Offset Policy will provide how this offset is to be
achieved.
Until this review is completed,
all current offset policies remain in effect.
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