About this publication
Scientific licences
July 2002
You will require a licence under section 132C of the National Parks and Wildlife Act if you wish to undertake an activity for scientific, educational or conservation purposes, that is likely to result in one or more of the following:
- Harm to any protected fauna, or to an animal that is a threatened species or is part of an endangered population or an endangered ecological community.
- Harm to any protected native plant, or any plant that is a threatened species or is part of an endangered population or an endangered ecological community. You will need a licence if you plan to collect voucher specimens for identification purposes, pick cuttings or whole plants, or collect seed.
- Damage to critical habitat.
- Damage to a habitat of a threatened species, an endangered population or an endangered ecological community.
Applying for a licence
To apply for a scientific licence:
1. Download and fill in the licence application form below. Note that applicants are required to demonstrate their experience and as well as provide the names of two referees that are familiar with their work.
2. Send your form to the Wildlife Licensing and Management Unit. Note: you no longer need to pay any fees for scientific licence applications.
We aim to make decisions on applications within 4 to 6 weeks of receipt of completed application forms.
Please note that if you are undertaking research on animals, you may also have to meet obligations under the NSW Animal Research Act. This is administered by NSW Agriculture.
Conditions
One condition attached to all licences is that you submit a report of the work carried out under the licence (including any results) to the NPWS within two months of the expiry of the licence.
The NPWS may issue guidelines for the carrying out of certain actions that require a licence. Applicants will be required to follow any such guidelines that apply to their proposed action. Guidelines will be published on this website as they are prepared.
Documents to download
- Scientific licence application form (PDF - 60KB). Note: fees are no longer charged on scientific licence applications.
- Spreadsheet for recording and submitting research data (Microsoft Excel format - 73KB)
- Atlas of NSW Wildlife - Field Data Book (PDF - 221KB)
- Atlas of NSW Wildlife - Census of Australian Plant Species Taxa (Microsoft Excel format - 3.4MB)
- Atlas of NSW Wildlife - Census of Australian Vertebrate Species Taxa (Microsoft Excel format - 1.1MB)
- Atlas of NSW Wildlife - Taxa Metadata (Microsoft Excel format - 18KB)