Is there a proper legal and regulatory framework in place to control land clearing and protect native vegetation here in NSW?
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Climate Change Australia (CCA) has invited the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), an independent, non-profit legal centre dedicated to applying and improving the laws protecting the environment, to conduct a workshop to help answer this question.
The workshop will be held on Wednesday, November 14 at 5.30pm in the CWA rooms, Horton St, Port Macquarie.
Similar workshops have been conducted along the North Coast, with an emphasis on practical application of the information provided.
“You would think that it would be important for us to redouble our efforts to ensure our native vegetation is protected and enhanced,” Frank Dennis, Forest and Climate spokesperson for Climate Change Australia said.
“We need trees and shrubs to act as the lungs of the planet absorbing CO2 emissions and help prevent runaway planetary warming. Maintaining vegetation cover (as habitat) is imperative for increasingly large numbers of plant and animal species, many rare, threatened and endangered to halt rising extinction rates.”
Two legal experts from the EDO will lead the workshop.
Jemilah Hallanin, as director of EDO’s Outreach Program, is an environmental lawyer with over 10 years experience advising the community on a wide range of planning and environmental issues.
Belinda Rayment is an environmental lawyer and experienced litigator working across EDO’s community and professional programs.
“The workshop is intended to be educational. It will cover the new rural land clearing laws, allowable activities, the code and approvals to clear as well as clearing in urban and environmental zones under the new native vegetation SEPP,” Ms Hallinan said.
“We explain the biodiversity offsets scheme and options for offsetting impacts on biodiversity. Along the way we outline what information is publicly available to help those concerned about observed clearing to determine whether the clearing is authorised (and if so, how).
“The workshop will be tailored to local issues, particularly around the new native vegetation maps which underpin the rural land clearing laws.”
Everyone is welcome and people wanting to attend are asked to RSVP online or call 02 9262 6989.
