Threatened Ecological Communities
What are they?
An ecological community is a group of plants and animals naturally occurring together and interacting in a unique habitat. For example wetlands or forests.
Due to numerous threatening processes such as vegetation clearing, fires, introduced species, climate change and pollution, a number of ecological communities are now considered to be at threat of extinction.
The Australian Government has listed these ecological communities as ‘Threatened Ecological Communities’ (TEC) and have provided protection for them under the Environment, Protection, Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth; EPBC Act).
How are they protected
Three categories exist for TECs under the EPBC Act:
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED – A TEC that is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future (e.g., within 10 years).
ENDANGERED – A TEC that is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future (e.g., within 20 years).
VULNERABLE – A TEC that is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium–term future (within 50 years).
TECs on your property
TECs are considered matters of national environmental significance (MNES). A mapping tool is available that provides a list of MNES protected by the EPBC Act that are likely to occur within a specified distance from your property. This mapping tool is known as the protected matters search tool and can be found in the link below.
If a TEC is listed as potentially occurring within 5km of your property then there is a chance that one is present on your property.
To confirm their presence, you will need to engage an ecologist to do a site survey of your property.
Developing your property
A person must not take an action that will have a significant impact on a listed TEC (or any MNES), without having approval from the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.
To obtain approval, the development will require an EPBC Referral to be submitted. Once submitted, the Minister will determine whether your development is either a ‘controlled action’ meaning it may potentially have a significant impact on a MNES, or ‘not a controlled action’.
If the Minister deems the project to be a ‘controlled action’, a detailed ecological assessment will be required, and conditions will be imposed on the development to ensure that any impacts are mitigated. If deemed ‘not a controlled action’ the development can go ahead after all other Council and State Government approvals are sought.
PROTECTED MATTERS SEARCH TOOL:
http://www.environment.gov.au/webgis-framework/apps/pmst/pmst.jsf