BBA2: Conduct the baseline assessment and prepare a state of NSW biodiversity report

Brief description The New South Wales (NSW) Government has introduced new legislation for biodiversity conservation - the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (the Act), which commenced on 25 August 2017, replacing the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. The goals of the Act include the conservation of biodiversity at bioregional and State levels, a reduction in the rate of species loss, and effective management to maintain or enhance the integrity of natural habitats. To contribute to assessing the performance of the new legislation, the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment established a mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the status of biodiversity at regular intervals. Monitoring of biodiversity across NSW is a large, complex task requiring novel approaches to data collection and use, including the application of models to help track change. The overarching monitoring framework, which outlines how indicators are related and derived, is presented in the “Measuring Biodiversity and Ecological Integrity in New South Wales: Method for the Biodiversity Indicator Program” (DPIE and CSIRO 2019). The indicator method establishes a nested design within which all indicators, as they are developed, have a place. Each indicator is nested with others of its type in an ‘indicator family’ and each family is nested within one of five themes, which are associated with either the ‘biodiversity’ or ‘ecological integrity’ class of indicators.