7. Environmental Laws (State and Federal)

Are environmental laws typically written as legislation or common law

• legislation

What has driven the development of environmental legislation in recent decades

• Increasing awareness of environmental issues over the past 30–40 years

What did earlier environmental legislation typically focus on

• Natural resource conservation, such as forestry, wildlife, water, and fisheries

What is common law

• Law developed by courts on a case-by-case basis, inherited from England

What is legislation in the context of law

• Laws created by elected representatives, known as Acts of Parliament

What is Australia’s central piece of environmental legislation

• A federal legislative act focused on protecting matters of environmental significance

What types of matters does Australia’s main environmental legislation protect

• Threatened species, world heritage sites, marine parks (e.g., Great Barrier Reef), and wetlands

What is one purpose of this legislation according to Parliament

• To assess whether a species or ecosystem has declined enough to be listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered

What does the legislation aim to guide

• The national recovery of species threatened with extinction

Besides guiding recovery, what else does the legislation aim to do

• Identify key threats to species’ survival and protect important habitat

What three factors does the EPBC Act use to assess the threat level of a species

• decline in population size

• geographic distribution

• risk of extinction

What are the four categories of threat status under the EPBC Act

• Extinct

• Critically Endangered

• Endangered

• Vulnerable

When might the EPBC Act offer a higher level of protection to a species

• When the species occurs across multiple states or territories, or has broader environmental impacts

What does the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG Act) provide for

• The listing of taxa (genera, species, subspecies, and varieties), threatened communities, and potentially threatening processes

Is the FFG Act a state or federal piece of legislation

• It is a state piece of legislation, with each state having its own version

What are the three lists under the FFG Act

• The Excluded List

• Threatened List

• Processes List

What does the Excluded List contain

• Native flora and fauna taxa that are not to be conserved because they pose a serious threat to human welfare (e.g., human disease organisms)

What does the Threatened List include

• Taxa and communities of native flora and fauna that are threatened

What does the Processes List include

• Potentially threatening processes that could harm native flora and fauna

What factors does the FFG Act use to assess the threat to a species or community

• Population size

• distribution, decline

• specific biological and ecological factors affecting survival

How many threat status categories are used under the FFG Act

• six

What are the six categories of threat status under the FFG Act

• Extinct

• Extinct in the Wild

• Critically Endangered

• Endangered

• Vulnerable

• Conservation Dependent

What does the category Conservation Dependent mean under the FFG Act

• The species needs specific management to survive in the wild, even if it’s not currently facing immediate extinction

Where does the FFG Act apply and offer protection

• Within the state of Victoria

What did the Lawyers for Forests (LFF) review of the FFG Act in 2002 highlight

• Lack of resources to enforce the act, government transparency and accountability issues, and the act being ignored in decision-making

What were the main criticisms identified in the 2002 LFF review of the FFG Act

• Lack of political will for implementation

• Lack of funding and resources

• Objectives overridden by conflicting interests (e.g., forestry industry)

What impact have funding cuts had on the implementation of the FFG Act

• Funding cuts since 2014-15 have slowed down the assessment and approval times for developments

what did Guardian Australia's investigation uncover about the FFG Act

• Poor monitoring of endangered species

• Delays in the listing of threatened species and ecosystems

• Failure to develop or update recovery plans

• Failure to list key threats and protect important habitat

• Funding used for projects not benefiting threatened species

• Lack of action on climate change effects

What exemption under the EPBC Act allows industries to bypass environmental assessments

• Logging under regional forestry agreements, which does not need to be assessed at the federal level for environmental impact

How does the EPBC Act allow certain endangered marine species to be commercially fished

• They are given a special classification under the listing system that permits continued commercial fishing