资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

How can I get involved?

Read the consultation documents

Illawarra-Shoalhaven subtropical rainforest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion

The draft Conservation Advice for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Subtropical Rainforest recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as critically endangered, based on evidence that the ecological community has a very restricted geographic distribution, based on small patch sizes, coupled with many demonstrable threats throughout the range.

Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for Illawarra–Shoalhaven subtropical rainforest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (PDF - 1000.23 KB)
Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for Illawarra–Shoalhaven subtropical rainforest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (DOCX - 630.19 KB)

Draft map of Illawarra-Shoalhaven subtropical rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion ecological community (PDF - 3.26 MB)

Robertson Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion

The draft Conservation Advice for the Robertson Rainforest recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as endangered based on evidence that it has: declined by at least 70%; has a very restricted distribution coupled with ongoing threats; and has undergone a severe reduction in its ecological integrity.

Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for Robertson Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion (PDF - 864 KB)
Draft Conservation Advice (incorporating listing advice) for Robertson Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion (DOCX - 688.28 KB)

Draft map of the Robertson Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion (PDF - 1.88 MB)

Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities

The Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Ecological Communities are also available to explain the criteria and concepts by which an ecological community can be determined as threatened in a particular conservation category.

Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities

Send your comments

The Committee welcomes the views of experts, land managers, Traditional Owners, other stakeholders and the general public on the draft Conservation Advice for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Subtropical Rainforest ecological community and the draft Conservation Advice for the Robertson Rainforest ecological community.

The public consultation period closes on 13 February 2019.

A set of Questions to guide your comments for each ecological community is provided below.

You are welcome to forward this request to advise other relevant key people or groups in your networks about this opportunity for comment. We would greatly appreciate your help to get input from other agencies and groups involved with biodiversity conservation, land management, primary industries and planning.

Questions to guide comments

1. Does the description in the draft documentation clearly and accurately describe the proposed ecological community, including its distribution? If not, how should it be amended to help with on-ground identification and management?
2. Are the lists of characteristic species accurate? If not, what should be added or removed?
3. Is the description (particularly the key diagnostic characteristics) sufficient to differentiate each ecological community from other ecological communities in the Sydney Basin Bioregion of New South Wales? If not, how should it be modified?
4. The draft documentation includes condition thresholds that help to determine when the patches of the community may be too degraded to be considered as nationally significant and also, for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Subtropical rainforest, additional thresholds for higher quality condition that can be used as a guide for recovery efforts. Are the condition thresholds suitable for these purposes? If not, how should they be modified?
5. Information on the key threats to each ecological community is provided in the draft documents. Are the key threats currently affecting each ecological community, or threats likely to affect the community in the future, and their impacts, adequately identified? If not, please provide further information, along with sources for your information.
6. Are you aware of additional data or other clear evidence of these threats and their likely impacts on each ecological community in the immediate, medium or long-term future?
7. The draft documents outline the priority research and conservation actions needed to help protect and recover the relevant ecological community. In your opinion, are these relevant and the most appropriate actions? If not, please provide details.
8. The draft conservation advices for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Subtropical Rainforest and the Robertson Rainforest conclude that these ecological communities merit listing as Critically endangered and Endangered, respectively. What do you propose is the appropriate conservation category for each ecological community, and the reasons supporting this? If you propose an alternative conservation status for either, please provide supporting evidence for why it applies to that ecological community.
9. Do you have any further comments or information about each ecological community that should be considered for the Conservation Advice?

Please support your comments with information and data, preferably supported by published studies or observations. If some of that information is not published, would you be willing to be quoted as an expert or source (“personal communication”)?

Please use the contact details, below, if you want more advice or help about this assessment. If you wish to comment, please send your comments quoting the ecological community name to:

Email: epbc.nominations@environment.gov.au

Mail: The Director
Ecological Communities Section
Department of the Environment and Energy
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601

Privacy and confidentiality in regard to comments received

Submissions received will be forwarded to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and, subsequently, to the Minister for the Environment.

Information contained in any comments will be stored and used by the department in compliance with its obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

If you wish your comments to remain confidential, you should clearly mark the relevant part(s) of your comments as ‘confidential’. Notwithstanding any obligations of confidentiality, the department may be required by law or parliamentary process to disclose, or allow disclosure of, any information contained in or relating to any comments (including personal and/or confidential information), including in response to a request by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth or under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).