Biodiversity certification strategy explained

Under a revision of the Threatened Species Conserv-ation Act 1995, in 2005 the Broulee Beach Estate was found to include one of the largest endangered ecological communities, the Bangalay sand forest. 

Biodiversity certification allows local governments in areas with high development pressure to offset environmental impacts by effectively locking up other parcels of land of high conservation value.

Councillors had prior arrangements

BioBanking, which is part of the strategy, is the system of collecting and managing funding to manage the offset areas.

Ongoing expenses to meet management responsibilities in the 405-hectare conservation area at Broulee have been calculated to be $105,593 a year.  

Developers would be charged roughly $3000 to $4000 per residential lot in the Broulee estate, depending on lot size, with the money put into a BioBanking trust fund.

The money would be used for fire mitigation, invasive plant and pest control, fauna monitoring and human disturbance monitoring. 

Constance hopes for a ‘win-win’ outcome in Broulee

Council started the process to consider bio-certification at Broulee and south Moruya so the land affected by the changes to the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 could be developed in the future. 

Mayor Lindsay Brown said the south Moruya bio-certification project had been put on the back-burner while the Broulee strategy was being considered.

A council spokeswoman said council had no plans to undertake bio-certification strategies in any other areas of the shire. 

“The biodiversity certification process has been identified as an appropriate mechanism to address competing biodiversity conservation and development issues in the Broulee urban area and airport and racecourse precincts,” she said.

She said the bio-certification strategy did not have anything to do with council’s Local Environment Plan.