Environmental offsets policy
Why the policy was developed
The Wildflower Society is concerned at public policy attempts to use environmental offset conditions in development approvals to implement “no net loss” principle and ‘net environmental benefit’ goal biodiversity outcomes.
The Society considers the clearing of native vegetation communities can only result in a ‘net loss’ of biodiversity conservation in our State that cannot be replicated through rehabilitation or revegetation offsets. The Society does not consider it possible to fully re-establish specific ecosystems due to their complexity and diversity.
However, the Society does consider that an offsets policy could be a valuable instrument to at least partially offset the loss of environmental values from the clearing of native vegetation.