To maintain and enhance their standard of living, the entire Victorian community relies on industries that use biological resources. These industries provide employment, directly and indirectly, and contribute significantly to the economy. Their activities are regulated through a variety of legislation including the National Parks Act 1975, Forest Act 1958, Fisheries Act 1995, Wildlife Act 1975 and Environmental Protection Act 1970. Recent legislation relating to natural resource-based industries, such as fisheries, incorporates principles of ecologically sustainable development.

The Planning and Environment Act 1987 is critical to planning land use and development in Victoria. The new format planning schemes developed under the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) will provide both a consistent framework and a strategic direction for decisions on land use and development. A key component of the VPP is the State Planning Policy Framework (SPPF), which applies to all land in Victoria.

The SPPF includes a biodiversity objective, to ‘assist the protection and conservation of biodiversity, including native vegetation retention and provision of habitats for native plants and animals’.

Recent legislation such as the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994, Fisheries Act 1995 and the Coastal Management Act 1995 has taken an approach to natural resource management in which partnerships between the community, business and government are integral. The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG) and the Fisheries Act 1995 together provide a framework for and management approaches to the protection of biodiversity and the sustainable use of flora and fauna across the State. The FFG recognises community awareness and cooperative programs as key measures for conservation.

Industry, private landholders, public authorities and community groups can participate in biodiversity conservation in ways that range from on-site management to broad strategy-making, from business planning to recovery planning, from voluntary activities to legal compliance. By incorporating biodiversity considerations into their overall business goals they can consider the impacts of their activities. The provision of comprehensive information on the status of biodiversity will facilitate compliance with existing legislation as will the development of criteria and guidelines for assessing and avoiding adverse impacts. Some organizations are also beginning to examine methods for including biodiversity in product life-cycle analyses.

Industry self-regulation is supported by international standards for Environmental Management Systems (EMS). For example ISO 14001 requires a participating organisation to develop an environmental policy; identify its impacts on the environment; develop a plan to reduce those impacts and meet continuous improvement goals. The ‘safety net’ behind this suite of tools is the FFG with its objectives, voluntary mechanisms and legal controls. For example, it provides clarity for a wide range of clients and decision-making processes by listing the species and communities that are threatened with extinction, and the processes that pose a threat to a range of flora and fauna.

A Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) makes recommendations on whether to list or de-list species, communities or potential threatening processes, to the Minister, who then makes recommendations to the Governor in Council. Anyone can participate in this process by nominating items and commenting upon preliminary recommendations of the SAC.

An Action Statement sets out what has been done to conserve or manage the listed item, and what will be done. Other provisions within the Act include determination of Critical Habitat. Interim Conservation Orders can be applied to Critical Habitats of listed species or (only on Crown land and waters) ecological communities.

Protected flora controls apply to commercial harvesting on private land and to any kind of ‘taking’ from public land. The protected flora and listed fish controls provide a powerful and flexible instrument that operates at several levels. At an industry level, Governor in Council Orders remove the need for separate permits in all but the most serious cases. The Orders contain guidelines to help businesses plan and conduct their activities with biodiversity objectives in mind.

At a site level, protected flora permits are used to set sustainability conditions for a range of ‘taking’ activities including deliberate harvesting, research and incidental damage during other activities.

There are many opportunities for public authorities to have ‘due regard’ to the conservation objectives of the Act and integrate these with other business goals. Public Authority Management Agreements (PAMAs) can provide for the management of species, communities and potentially threatening processes.

The taking, keeping and trading of native fauna is controlled under the Wildlife Act 1975, which also regulates native and introduced game species.

Key Directions

• Facilitate compliance with existing legislation though the provision of accessible information on biodiversity, which will enhance community awareness and the development of voluntary codes of practice.
• Provide accessible information on biodiversity condition and threats specific to the local areas for use under the Local Planning Provisions.
• Promote the adoption of ecological sustainability through guidelines and other standards embodied in Action Statements and recovery programs in the public and private sector through Environmental Management Systems such as ISO 14001.
• Encourage public authorities to develop explicit and well-documented strategies to demonstrate that they meet the FFG’s requirement to take account of biodiversity conservation objectives.
• With industry, encourage the development of methods for considering biodiversity in whole of life-cycle analyses.
• Expedite the listing of all eligible species, communities and potentially threatening processes.
• Develop Action Statements for listed items giving priority to species and ecological communities threatened nationally, or of particular significance to Victoria.
• Develop and implement Action Statements for priority threatening processes in the context of increasing community and agency custodianship.