Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

A - 2.0 LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT
The development of any Biodiversity Strategy needs to fit within the framework of
national, state and regional biodiversity agreements, legislation, plans and other
initiatives.
Key Points
• The Gosford Biodiversity Conservation needs to be considered within the framework of
international biological conventions and federal, state and regional biodiversity plans,
policies and legislation.
• Local government has a key role in biodiversity conservation, and actions for biodiversity
conservation need to occur across all areas of Council.
A - 2.1
Federal and State Legislation, initiatives and Biodiversity Planning
The Australian Government is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity that was one
of the key agreements made at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero. This has three main goals; the
conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and
equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. The Convention on
Biological Diversity requires countries to develop and implement strategies for sustainable use
and protection of biodiversity and to report on these actions (see
http://www.unep.ch/seas/main/legal/lcbd.html, http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/guide,
http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/international/index.html).
The Convention emphasises in-situ conservation measures, with ex-situ conservation
complementing these, and contains measures on the identification and monitoring of important
components of biological diversity, establishment and management of protected areas,
sustainable management of biological resources both within and outside protected areas,
rehabilitation and restoration of degraded ecosystems, recovery of threatened species, control
of pest species, control of threatening processes and activities, involvement of indigenous and
local communities, sustainable customary use of biological resources, and research and
training.
The Commonwealth Government set National Objectives and Targets for Biodiversity
Conservation for 2001-2005 (Environment Australia 2001) under ten 'priority outcomes'for the
Australian Government, States and Territories. These are yet to be reviewed by the Department
of EnvironmenT and Heritage to determine if they have or have not been met.
At the state level, the NPWS Biodiversity Strategy (NPWS 1999) identifies the following broad
objectives with local government in a support role:
• Establish community partnerships.
• Provide opportunities and incentives to the community to conserve biodiversity.
• Work with local communities and existing conservation networks (including
established Landcare, TCM groups, local government and Aboriginal Land
Councils and other Aboriginal groups) to protect, repair and restore biodiversity.
• Implement bioregional assessment and planning throughout NSW.
• Implement mechanisms for the identification, recovery and rehabilitation of
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 38