Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Annual Report 2011-12
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2012
ISSN 1441-9335
Outcome 5: Operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
This annual report has been prepared in accordance with section 516 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). It reports on the operation of the EPBC Act from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 against the main objectives of the Act, which are to:
- provide a clear role for the Australian Government in the protection of the environment, especially on 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 all decisions taken (section 2.3).
As required, this annual report includes statistics on the operation of the EPBC Act, particularly compliance with statutory timeframes. This information, the membership of advisory committees, and a list of EPBC Act publications produced in 2011-12 are contained in the appendices to this report. The report also provides an overview of regulatory reform activities relating to the future operation of the EPBC Act, including the proposed changes to the Act and its operational framework that were under development in 2011-12 (section 3).
The department’s activities relating to the operation of the EPBC Act are integral to achieving portfolio outcomes in a broad range of areas. These include the conservation and protection of biodiversity and ecosystems in terrestrial and marine areas, and the conservation and preservation of Australia’s natural and human heritage. 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
- World and National Heritage
- Wetlands of international importance
- Threatened species, ecological communities and migratory species
- 1. 2 Wildlife trade and management
- Live imports
- Sustainable wildlife industries
- Wildlife trade permits
- Fisheries assessments and approvals
- 1.3 Protected areas
- Commonwealth reserves
- 1.1 Protecting matters of national environmental significance
- 2 Promoting ecologically sustainable development
- 2.1 Strategic approaches
- Strategic assessments
- Marine bioregional planning
- Bilateral agreements
- 2. 2 Environmental impact assessment
- Referrals
- Assessments and approvals
- 2.3 Compliance and enforcement
- Working with others
- Compliance audit plan
- Breaches and investigations
- Legal actions
- 2.1 Strategic approaches
- 3 EPBC Act regulatory reform
- Regulatory reform taskforce
- Legislation amendments
- Appendices
- Appendix A—Statistics
- Appendix B—Committees
- Appendix C—Publications
- Appendix D—Key threatening processes and threat abatement plans
