The NSW Government is protecting native vegetation by purchasing land for new reserves and establishing funding agreements with landowners to ensure conservation. These efforts help offset the biodiversity impacts from development in Sydney's North West and South West growth centres.
In 2008, the NSW Government established a $530 million (2006–07 dollar values) Growth Centres Conservation Fund to protect areas of high biodiversity value.
Of this, $397.5 million was allocated over 30 years to support the establishment of conservation agreements and the purchase and retirement of biodiversity credits outside the growth centres. This funding has been derived partly from a special infrastructure contribution (SIC) applying to development in the Growth Centres and partly from the government's Consolidated Fund equally shared 50:50.
Growth Centres Biodiversity Offset certification extension
On 6 June 2025, the Minister for the Environment signed an Order extending biodiversity certification of the Growth Centres Environmental Planning Instruments (EPIs) for one year to 30 June 2026.
This determination was published in the NSW Gazette on 20 June 2025 (PDF 1.3MB).
During the one-year extension period, a review of the biodiversity certification will be undertaken. Based on the review’s findings, the biodiversity certification may be extended for up to 9 additional years. Public consultation for any further extension is anticipated in April-May 2026.
What's been achieved
As of 2025, the Growth Centres Biodiversity Offset Program has permanently protected approximately 913 hectares of land at 25 locations in western Sydney, comprising 24 biodiversity stewardship sites and one reserve.
These sites protect threatened ecological communities, including critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland, and provide valuable habitat for threatened animal and plant species.
For site details, see Land protected through the Growth Centres Biodiversity Offset Program.
How the offset program works
The offset program delivers offsets for the NSW Government under 4 key agreements:
- Biodiversity Certification of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Region Growth Centres) (2006)
- Edmondson Park Conservation Agreement
- Sydney Growth Centres Strategic Assessment Program Report
- Mulgoa biodiversity stewardship site funding agreement with the Australian Government.
In accordance with the biodiversity certification, the program receives funding annually at the same rate at which development is expected to occur in the growth centres. The program has also been supported by grants of additional funding from the NSW Government and the Australian Government.
The program spends the funds, as a first preference, within priority areas that contain the largest remaining areas of high conservation value bushland on the Cumberland Plain. If it is not possible to create a reserve, the program will protect the land by entering into biodiversity stewardship agreements (previously known as biobanking agreements) with existing landowners.
Biodiversity stewardship agreements are a type of permanent conservation agreement in which funding for site management is invested in an endowment fund (the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund). The fund provides ongoing annual payments to the landowner, allowing the ongoing management of the bushland.