Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) 2010–11 Annual Report

This annual report is prepared in accordance with section 516 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It reports on the operation of the EPBC Act from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 against its main objectives to:

• Provide a clear role for the Australian Government in the protection of the environment, especially matters of national environmental significance; to enhance the protection of important natural and cultural places, and to conserve biodiversity (section 1.1).
• Control the international movement of wildlife trade and ensure the sustainable management of wildlife industries (section 1.2).
• Protect and manage marine and terrestrial areas (section 1.3).
• Work towards promoting ecologically sustainable development through increased intergovernmental cooperation and reduced duplication in environmental impact assessment through strategic approaches (section 2.1).
• Provide an efficient and effective assessment and approval process (section 2.2).
• Implement a comprehensive monitoring, audit, compliance and enforcement regime for decisions taken (section 2.3).

The report also gives an overview of review activities related to the operation of the EPBC Act and changes proposed to the legislative framework in 2010–11 (section 3). The EPBC Act requires the annual report to include statistics on the operation of the EPBC Act, particularly compliance with statutory timeframes. This information, the function and membership of advisory committees, and a list of EPBC Act publications produced in 2010–11 are in the Appendices.

Activities carried out as part of the operation of the EPBC Act are integral to achieving the department’s contribution to portfolio outcomes on biodiversity and ecosystems. Consequently, some of these activities are also reported elsewhere in the department’s annual report.

Contents

• Overview
• 1 Protecting the environment
  • 1.1 Protecting matters of national environmental significance
  • 1.2 Wildlife trade and management
  • 1.3 Protected areas
• 2 Promoting ecologically sustainable development
  • 2.1 Strategic approaches
  • 2.2 Environmental impact assessment
  • 2.3 Compliance and enforcement
• 3 EPBC Act review and law changes
• Appendices
  • Appendix A – Statistics
  • Appendix B – Committees
  • Appendix C – Publications
  • Appendix D – Key threatened processes and threat abatement plans

Back to top