Developers can apply for priority access to in-demand biodiversity credits, according to the draft operating protocol for NSW's new $106 million biodiversity fund.
NSW's deputy Auditor-General, Ian Goodwin, has concluded that NSW's biodiversity offsets scheme is seriously flawed, and has warned that there is no clear, long-term strategy to improve it.
A $107 million NSW fund to fast-track the supply of biodiversity credits will be operating by September, and responsibility for biodiversity stewardship agreements will shift to a new taskforce.
A court has fined the NSW Forestry Corporation $135,600 and ordered it to pay $150,000 in EPA costs for felling trees in koala habitat and other logging exclusion zones.
Proponents of renewable energy projects need earlier guidance on what biodiversity offsets are likely to cost, the Clean Energy Council has told the NSW government.
A NSW Bill allowing biodiversity and carbon credits to be generated from actions in national parks is deeply flawed, according to a leading biodiversity scientist.