Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

A biodiversity stewardship agreement may contain any of the following terms, binding on the owners from time to time of the land—

requiring or authorising the owners to carry out specified management actions on the land,

creating (or providing for the creation of) the number and class of biodiversity credits in respect of any of those management actions in accordance with the biodiversity assessment method,

providing for the timing of the creation of biodiversity credits and their release for sale,

providing for the transfer or retirement of the biodiversity credits created,

requiring the owners to carry out any management action in perpetuity, unless otherwise specified (even if a biodiversity credit has already been created in respect of the action or has been transferred or retired),

requiring the owners to make additional payments to the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund,

restricting development on the biodiversity stewardship site,

requiring the owners to permit persons to access the biodiversity stewardship site and to allow them to take any specified action on the land,

providing for monitoring, reporting and audit requirements,

providing for the entitlement of the owners to payments from the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund,

specifying the manner in which any money provided to the owners under the agreement is to be applied by the owners,

requiring the owners to repay money paid to the owners under the agreement if a specified breach of the agreement occurs,

specifying the remedial measures that must be taken in the event that any contingency that has a negative impact on the biodiversity values protected by the agreement or that prevents or disrupts the continuation of a management action in respect of which biodiversity credits are in force or have been retired,

providing for any other matter relating to the biodiversity stewardship site.

A biodiversity stewardship agreement may contain any of the following terms, binding on the Minister—

requiring the Minister to direct that payments be made from the Biodiversity Stewardship Payments Fund to the owner of the land,

requiring the Minister to provide technical advice or other assistance,

requiring the Minister to carry out specified activities or do specified things,

providing for any other matter relating to the biodiversity stewardship site.

If the biodiversity assessment method is amended or replaced after a biodiversity stewardship agreement is entered into, the biodiversity stewardship agreement prevails to the extent of any inconsistency between the agreement and the provisions of the biodiversity assessment method as amended or replaced.