BioBanking

The conservation of our endangered animals, plants and ecosystems is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing Australia today. The key reason for the historically high extinction rate of these animals, plants and ecosystems is habitat degradation and loss, initially from over-grazing and clearing for agriculture, and more recently from the clearing of native vegetation for urban development.

The NSW Government has introduced the Biodiversity Banking and Offsets Scheme (or 'BioBanking') to help address the loss of biodiversity values, including threatened species.

What is BioBanking?

BioBanking is a market-based scheme that provides a streamlined biodiversity assessment process for development, a rigorous and credible offsetting scheme as well as an opportunity for rural landowners to generate income by managing land for conservation.

BioBanking enables 'biodiversity credits' to be generated by landowners who commit to enhance and protect biodiversity values on their land through a biobanking agreement. These credits can then be sold, generating funds for the management of the site. Credits can be used to counterbalance (or offset) the impacts on biodiversity values that are likely to occur as a result of development. The credits can also be sold to those seeking to invest in conservation outcomes, including philanthropic organisations and government.

For a general guide to the scheme and how it works, download the BioBanking Scheme Overview (biobankingoverview07528.pdf, 686 KB) and The Science behind BioBanking (09476biobankingscience.pdf, 841KB; requires Adobe Reader).

For more information contact:

BioBanking Team
Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW
PO Box A290
Sydney South NSW 1232
Phone: (02) 9995 6753
Fax: (02) 9995 6795
Email: biobanking@environment.nsw.gov.au

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