Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

A biodiversity stewardship agreement may be varied—

by a subsequent agreement between the Minister and the owners (for the time being) of the biodiversity stewardship site concerned, or

by the Minister, without the consent of the owners, where that variation is authorised by this Act.

The Minister must not agree to a variation of a biodiversity stewardship agreement under subsection (1)(a) that increases the area of the biodiversity stewardship site, unless the persons who would have been required to consent or be consulted in relation to the area added to the site at the time of the variation if it were a new agreement have consented to, or been consulted about, the variation.

The Minister must not agree to any variation of a biodiversity stewardship agreement unless satisfied that the variation does not have a negative impact on the biodiversity values protected by the agreement or that other measures required by the Minister have been taken by the owner of the biodiversity stewardship site to offset any such negative impact.

For the purposes of subsection (3), the required measures may include one or more of the following—

the cancellation of biodiversity credits created in relation to the biodiversity stewardship site,

the retirement of biodiversity credits created in relation to another biodiversity stewardship site,

payments into the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund.

A request for the agreement of the Minister to the variation of a biodiversity stewardship agreement is to be made by application of the owner of the site—

in the form approved by the Minister and accompanied by the information required by that form, and

accompanied by a fee prescribed by the regulations.

If the variation of a biodiversity stewardship agreement requires the preparation of a plan of survey relating to an alteration in the area of the biodiversity stewardship site, the applicant is to provide or pay for the provision of the plan of survey.

Unless the Minister otherwise determines in accordance with the regulations, an application to vary a biodiversity stewardship agreement is to be accompanied by a biodiversity stewardship site assessment report prepared by an accredited person—

that assesses the biodiversity values of the proposed site (as proposed to be varied) in accordance with the biodiversity assessment method, and

that sets out any proposed variation in the management actions carried out on the proposed site, and

that specifies in accordance with the biodiversity assessment method any additional number and class of biodiversity credits that may be created in respect of those management actions.

The regulations may authorise the Minister and the owners of the biodiversity stewardship site concerned to make minor variations to the biodiversity stewardship agreement without any consent or consultation required by this section.