Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM)
The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and associated Biodiversity Offset Scheme (BOS) establishes Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements (BSA) which are in-perpetuity agreements entered into by landholders to secure biodiversity offset sites. Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements are used by landholders wishing to generate and potentially sell biodiversity credits. They provide permanent conservation and management of the ecological values of the land and form a voluntary agreement between the landholder and the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) to permanently manage an area of land to maintain and improve its biodiversity values. The landholder will receive annual payments in return for undertaking conservation management actions on the property and may choose to earn a profit from selling the biodiversity credits generated. For more infomration about the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement please see;
Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements - Resources
Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements for Landholders
Expert Reports & BAM Assessments
Dr Steve Phillips is an 'Approved Expert' on koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) for the purposes of the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM). Steve possesses the specialised knowledge to provide an expert opinion regarding the biodiversity values and 'species-credits' for koalas within a specified area, for example on the site of a proposed Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement (BSA). The purpose of an expert report within the Biodiversity Assessment Method is to allow for a person with extensive knowledge about an individual threatened species to identify its habitat and predict its density and distribution within that habitat. An expert report relates to species-credit species only and not ecosystem-credit species or Plant Community Types (PCT), which are addressed in a standard Biodiversity Assessment Method.
BAM Assessments
Dr. Amanda Lane is an accredited BAM Assessor, enabling us to undertake ecological assessments including Biodiversity Stewardship Site Assessment Reports (BSSAR) as part of the Biodiversity Offsets approach specified in the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the associated Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017. This process is undertaken when a landholder is looking to use their land for conservation purposes, including maintaining and revegetating native vegetation. A Biodiversity Stewardship Site Assessment can only be undertaken by an accredited assessor such as Dr. Lane and may act as a long-term investment with stewardship sites providing an opportunity to create biodiversity credits which can then be sold to generate income for the landholder. A Biodiversity Stewardship Site Assessment must be accompanied by a 20 year Management Plan to ensure that conservation actions occur. Eligibility criteria can be found via the following links;
Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 1
Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2
