The Environmental Defenders Office welcomes the general thrust of the NSW Upper House inquiry into the Integrity of the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme, tabled this afternoon.
In particular, EDO supports the committee’s recommendation to “review and reform the design of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme, to ensure it meets best practice principles for biodiversity offsetting”.
“We’ve had serious concerns about this offsets scheme from the very beginning because it appears to prioritise development over the wildlife and bushland that the law is supposed to protect,” Environmental Defenders Office Head of Policy & Law Reform Rachel Walmsley said.
“This report confirms our worst fears. It is not surprising the scheme is failing because it falls well short of best practice.
“We strongly support a root-and-branch overhaul of the scheme, because in its current form it does more harm than good.
“Our laws must recognise that some things are too precious and vulnerable to ever be offset.
“The committee’s report is timely because the government is reviewing the biodiversity conservation and land clearing laws it introduced five years ago, laws that have the offsets scheme as a key component.
“Since those laws came into force, land clearing rates have skyrocket and remain dangerously high.
“Plants and animals continue to be added to the list of threatened species every year.
“To stop this dangerous trend, the government must provide threatened wildlife, ecosystems and communities genuine protection.”
The EDO made a substantial submission to the inquiry and is referenced 77 times in the committee’s final report.
EDO has published several reports on the biodiversity offsets scheme in NSW and made numerous recommendations for improving its performance.
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