Who we are
ACS Environmental P/L provide high quality professional consulting services to private individuals, land managers and resource development clientele. Our consultants specialise in flora and fauna surveys and biodiversity impact assessments including addressing relevant threatened species legislation.
Under the new Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016), certain development proposals (Part 4 development proposals where the Minister for Planning is the consent authority under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979) will require an accredited ecologist to prepare a biodiversity development assessment report (BDAR).
The key part of these reports will be the application by the ecologist of the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM). The BAM is a highly technical, metric-based methodology for determining the impacts of proposed development on biodiversity.
By application of the BAM, the BDAR will identify what steps need to be taken to avoid and mitigate impacts of the proposed development on biodiversity. For impacts that cannot be avoided/mitigated, the report will identify a biodiversity offset credit requirement. That requirement will then translate into a condition of development consent where the developer must obtain biodiversity offset credits (or pay money into an offsets fund).
The BAM has been formulated on the principle that there be no net loss to biodiversity as a consequence of new development.
This replaces the regime of species impact statements under the Threatened Species Conservation Act.
Like species impact statements, a BDAR will only be required if a certain threshold is met – being that the development is likely to significantly affect threatened species. There are a number of ways to determine this under the legislation (satisfying any one will act as a trigger):
- An application of a 5-part test of significance (5-part threshold test of significance)
- If the proposed development is in a ‘declared area of outstanding biodiversity value’; and/or
- If the ‘biodiversity offsets scheme threshold’ is met – which is determined by reference to how much clearing of native vegetation is required relative to the size of the lot to be developed (nominally set at 0.25ha). The biodiversity offsets scheme threshold will also be exceeded if clearing is proposed on land within a ’sensitive biodiversity values land map’
Our services also include addressing factors in relation to the Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as well as preparation of biodiversity and vegetation management plans for developments in ecologically sensitive areas.
