Biodiversity

WALGA provides advice on a range of issues relating to biodiversity, including sharing the best practice approaches via environmental events.

Legislative reform

The Australian Government is undertaking reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), which is Australia’s primary environmental legislation. The reforms aim to provide stronger environment protection and restoration for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES), which include threatened species and ecological communities, migratory species, wetlands of international importance and more. This is particularly relevant to Western Australia, which is home to eight of Australia’s 15 declared biodiversity hotspots and more than 700 threatened species and 65 Threatened Ecological Communities.

The reforms include the making of new National Environmental Standards, the establishment of an independent National Environmental Protection Agency and improvements to the access of environmental data through Environment Information Australia.

The National Environmental Standards (NES) will support the operation of a reformed EPBC Act by setting expectations for the outcomes of regulated activities and uplifting the quality and consistency of minister decision-making. WALGA has completed submissions on the Standard for Matters of National Environmental Significance and the Standard for Data and Information. WALGA has provide input on other Standards through the Australian Local Government Association submissions.

Projects

Local Biodiversity and Native Vegetation Management Project

WALGA has received funding from the State Natural Resource Management (NRM) Program, for the Local Government Biodiversity and Native Vegetation Management Project (the Project). The Project operated between March 2023 and December 2024, delivering a range of resources, including a roadside vegetation management e-training module and funding to Local Governments via a devolved grants program.

The project was supported by:

Resources

NAIA Templates and NAIA database

Four Natural Area Initial Assessment (NAIA) templates were developed to help Local Governments assess site-specific ecological values, biodiversity significance and threats. Initially developed for Local Governments in the Perth Metropolitan Region and the South West Biodiversity Project area, the current NAIA Templates are applicable across the South West of Western Australia. The updated NAIA Templates include instructions on completion and Appendices with additional resources (see also Mapping Data).

Download the current NAIA Templates.

To support identification of vegetation types in Perth and its surrounds, use of Perth Plant Communities Reference Sites is encouraged. This resource, available via DataWA, identifies 51 Reference Sites for which information is available on characteristics of typical plant communities.

A database is available for historical Local Government data collected using the NAIA Templates. NAIA Templates for the Perth Metropolitan Region can be downloaded here and for the South West Biodiversity Project area can be downloaded here.

Mapping data

Various mapping data are used as surrogates for biodiversity. Several mapping datasets and reference information, developed via WALGA’s previous local biodiversity planning initiatives are available for download via the DataWA online platform. These datasets are used to complete the NAIA templates and to undertake natural area prioritisation for local biodiversity strategies.

To locate the datasets, search for WALGA under the list of organisations or search for the following: