Strategic Offset Policy and Biodiversity Offset Guidelines · Attachment 2 - Noosa Biodiversity Offset Guideline Final

ORGANISATIONAL GUIDELINE - Biodiversity Offsets


elsewhere that can act as a receiving site for:
    •   Impacts on MNES such as threatened ecological communities and habitat for threatened
        species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
    •   Impacts on MSES identified under the Vegetation Management Act and Nature Conservation
        Act.
    •   Impacts on Areas of Biodiversity Significance captured under the Noosa Plan 2020
        Biodiversity Waterways and Wetlands Overlay Mapping for local environmental matters not
        otherwise MNES or MSES.
    •   Impacts on protected marine plants or waterway barrier works under the Fisheries Act 1994
        and the Planning Act 2016.
    •   Offsets required for public infrastructure projects under the under the State Development and
        Public Works Organisation Act 1971.
    •   Impacts identified under the Strategic Offsets Policy and this Biodiversity Offsets Guideline.
    •   Voluntary Biodiversity Offsets driven through initiatives including the National Nature Repair
        Market.
Offset receiving sites will be on Council owned/managed land (e.g. Council freehold tenure, Nature
Refuge or State Land with Noosa Council as trustee) or privately owned land where legally secured
for conservation in perpetuity under a Conservation Covenant or similar.
All offset receiving sites will have legally binding protective mechanisms in place such as a
Conservation Covenant, Nature Refuge, Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures
(OECM’s) or Voluntary Declaration under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.
In extraordinary circumstances Council may look to and deliver offsets outside of the Shire where
no suitable relevant biodiversity offset area is available, or feasible within the Noosa Local
Government area.


Advanced Offsets
Council will develop a portfolio of advanced offsets as funds avail, to be notified under the
Commonwealth Environmental Offsets Policy and registered as per the Queensland Government
Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014.


GOVERNANCE
The Director of Strategy and Environment will be responsible for managing the biodiversity offset
program delivery within Council.


PROCESS
The following process will be followed for projects generated internal and external to
Noosa Council that require biodiversity offsets:
    •   Prior to Offsets being accepted, the proponent must demonstrate compliance with the
        Mandatory Mitigation Hierarchy Test which is to only proceed with offsets as a last resort
        after all options to avoid, reduce/mitigate potentially impacted biodiversity have been
        exhausted.
    •   Offsets delivered on behalf of a proponent will be governed by a written agreement which
        outlines the roles and responsibilities of all parties, financial arrangements, and monitoring
        and reporting protocols.
    •   For Council generated offsets, coordination, planning and costing development for offsets
        is to occur during the project’s early design phase (prior to the clearing of impact site) with
        engagement by all relevant parties.
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