Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017

This clause applies for the purposes of determining whether an impact on diversity values is a serious and irreversible impact for the purposes of the biodiversity offsets scheme.

An impact is to be regarded as serious and irreversible if it is likely to contribute significantly to the risk of a threatened species or ecological community becoming extinct because—

it will cause a further decline of the species or ecological community that is currently observed, estimated, inferred or reasonably suspected to be in a rapid rate of decline, or

it will further reduce the population size of the species or ecological community that is currently observed, estimated, inferred or reasonably suspected to have a very small population size, or

it is an impact on the habitat of the species or ecological community that is currently observed, estimated, inferred or reasonably suspected to have a very limited geographic distribution, or

the impacted species or ecological community is unlikely to respond to measures to improve its habitat and vegetation integrity and therefore its members are not replaceable.

For the purpose of this clause, a decline of a species or ecological community is a continuing or projected decline in—

an index of abundance appropriate to the taxon, or

the geographic distribution and habitat quality of the species or ecological community.

If the guidance published by the Environment Agency Head under section 6.5(2) of the Act is changed, a biodiversity assessment report may, during the period of 90 days after the guidance was changed, be prepared on the basis of the guidance in force before the change, but only if the report states that it has been prepared on that basis.