In 2003, when Howard Jones entered a Voluntary Conservation Agreement, he believed he was doing the right thing, that was until the state government introduced the Biodiversity Conservation Act – now he’s not so certain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Kiama has the largest remnant sub-tropical rainforest in South-Eastern Australia, approximately 1100 hectares remain of what was once 12,000 hectares of natural beauty.
“This is the remnant we are trying to protect. Once you have lived in and experienced places like this, you develop a relationship where you couldn’t imagine it would be destroyed,” Mr Howard said.
“The agreement was designed to secure the property for the future.”
Mr Jones’ Saddleback Mountain property and Janet Mayer’s Foxground holding were signed up to the agreement upon the understanding it was in perpetuity.
“The whole point of it is that it is in perpetuity, in other words you forfeit any future development rights and it is passed on with the title,” Mr Jones said.
“We had a certain level of comfort and satisfaction from the idea this land would be conserved forever, but under this new act, while our land will remain conserved there’s a questions mark over the potential for our land to be converted to a stewardship agreement.”
Mr Howard believes the Biodiversity Conservation Act could allow future owners to use his property for biodiversity offsetting.
“It tries to protect biodiversity to some extent, but the whole point of it is to make it easier for land owners and developers to clear, but to make them pay,” he said.
“Our intention is conservation, and our land will remain conserved, but now we’re told the agreement may be converted to a stewardship agreement, ‘may’ is the key word.
“Once it’s converted, your land can be assessed for biodiversity credits.
“This land has high values, therefore, someone in the future may be able to convert it and cash in the credits.
“That means our land can be used as a tool for biodiversity destruction elsewhere, or purchased, not for the purposes of conservation but just to realise the biodiversity credits.”
Kiama MP Gareth Ward said all existing agreements would remain the same and disagreed the properties signed up to a Voluntary Conservation Agreement could be used to offset biodiversity destruction elsewhere.
“All existing agreement stand unless the landholder wants a change,” he said.
“Landholders will have the option to access the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust’s new landholder support program, and may be eligible for funding.
“Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements will be used for biodiversity offset sites. Conservation Agreements and Wildlife Refuge Agreements will be used for voluntary private land conservation.”
Want more from the Kiama Independent? Try these:
