The pristine subtropical rainforest in Saddleback Mountain that Howard Jones has called home for almost 35 years isn’t in danger of being ‘’harmed’’.
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But the Gerroa Environment Protection Society secretary fears proposed ‘’draconian’’ State environmental legislation will threaten biodiversity conservation.
The State Government has proposed legislation to scrap the Threatened Species Conservation and Land Clearing Acts and replace them with a ‘’watered down’’ Biodiversity Conservation and amended Local Land Services Acts.
‘’We need policies that proactively promote biodiversity rather than water down protection in the name of biodiversity conservation as this legislation does,’’ Mr Jones said.
‘’This bill seeks to loosen regulation to make it easier to clear native vegetation in most rurally zoned lands, including those in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven. Farmers or developers who want to clear particularly sensitive vegetation will have easier access to compensatory offsets or they can simply pay a ‘bio tax’ into a Biodiversity Conservation Fund.’’
Mr Jones said Kiama is believed to have the largest sub-tropical rainforest in South East Australia.
‘’But only 12 per cent of the original rainforest is left. It is vital to protect it,’’ he said.
‘’This legislation actually threatens biodiversity conservation. It will enable the biological values of lands protected under existing privately owned ‘Voluntary Conservation Agreements’ to be traded for profit as offsets against the clearing of land with similar values under a system of proposed ‘Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements’.
‘’As a Voluntary Conservation Agreement holder myself I find this extremely distressing as it confounds and undermines my efforts to conserve biodiversity.
‘’These monumental retrograde changes will turn the clock back on the heritage of biodiversity protection built up in NSW over the last 30 years and contribute to climate change.’’
Visit http://www.edonsw.org.au/gerroa_2016 for help to make a submission before June 28.