The plants, animals and ecological communities that have been assessed as threatened or extinct in NSW are listed in the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act):
Schedule 1 – Threatened species includes Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable species.
Schedule 2 – Threatened Ecological Communities includes Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable Ecological Communities.
Schedule 3 – Extinct species and Collapsed Ecological Communities
Schedule 4 – Key threatening processes (Threats that adversely affect species and ecological communities)
The Schedules are maintained by an independent committee of scientists appointed to the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee (NSW TSSC).
Once listed, a species, population or ecological community is protected by the provisions relating to their conservation in the BC Act.
Overview of the process
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1. Nomination |
Anyone can make a nomination to list, delist or to change the status of a species, population or ecological community and list or delist a key threatening processes. |
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2. Nomination accepted |
The NSW TSSC reviews the nomination and decides whether to accept the nomination or not. A nomination can be rejected if the information provided is inadequate for an assessment to be completed. |
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3. Assessment against criteria |
The NSW TSSC assesses the species or ecological community against the criteria in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 using the Common Assessment Method (CAM). |
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4. Public exhibition of Preliminary Determination and assessment report |
The NSW TSSC places a Preliminary Determination and Conservation Assessment Report on public exhibition to encourage comment and to attract additional information relevant to the assessment. |
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5. Review of submissions |
The NSW TSSC reviews all submissions received during the public exhibition period before making a final decision. |
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6. Final Determination and update to the BC Act Schedule |
The Committee makes a Final Determination regarding listing, delisting or a change in threat status or the Committee rejects the proposal. The relevant Schedule of the BC Act is updated to reflect the Committee’s decision and this takes effect when the Final Determination is published on the NSW Legislation website. The Committee also publishes a notice of Final Determination which includes the reasons for the decision. |