EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Declaration under section 184(1)
(Issued under the Authority of the Minister for the Environment and Heritage)
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) places certain obligations on the Australian Government to protect and conserve threatened species and ecological communities and recognise, and where possible abate, key threatening processes listed on the lists of threatened species, ecological communities and key threatening processes under the Act.
The purpose of this declaration is to amend the list of ecological communities under the Act in accordance with s184 by:
including in the list in the critically endangered category:
- White Box–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland
deleting from the list in the endangered category:
- Grassy White Box Woodlands
as recommended by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee), having regard to the definition of critically endangered ecological communities in s182 of the Act.
The Committee’s recommendations are as follows:
1. White Box–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland
The evidence presented in the nomination and submitted by stakeholders, the public and experts in the field enabled the Committee to judge that the White Box–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland ecological community is eligible for listing as critically endangered under the Act. The ecological community met the criteria in the Act and EPBC Regulations (Part 7, Division 7.1 and 7.2). In particular, two of the criteria for listing as critically endangered:
Criterion 1: It has undergone a very severe decline in geographic distribution.
Criterion 4: The reduction in integrity across most of its geographic distribution is very severe as indicated by degradation of the ecological community and disruption of important ecological community processes that is very severe.
On this basis, the Committee recommends that the ecological community White Box–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland, be listed as critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
On the basis of the advice of the Committee, I am satisfied that the ecological community is eligible to be included in the critically endangered category.
In deciding to include this ecological community in the list, I did not consider any matter that does not relate to the survival of the ecological community.
2. Grassy White Box Woodlands
The recommendation to list White Box–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland as a critically endangered ecological community subsumes the current listing of Grassy White Box Woodlands. Thus, the Committee recommends that the ecological community Grassy White Box Woodlands be delisted.
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.