Australia launches pioneering "bio-bank" scheme

The Australian government yesterday launched a pioneering 'bio-bank' scheme that will allow developers to build on environmentally-sensitive land in urban areas if they pay to protect equivalent land elsewhere.

Environment minister Frank Sartor signed the first bio-bank agreement, which will see 80 hectares of rural land near Camden protected as a conservation reserve by developers who want to build 180,000 houses on protected land in Sydney's western suburbs.

The A$1.7m (£1.1m) agreement with the private landholder, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, is the first of its type and will see the developer also put in charge of maintaining the Camden site, managing rubbish removal, carrying out necessary re-vegetation, and controlling weeds and feral animals.

According to the government, there are more than 35 similar arrangements already planned with dozens of patches of land in more rural areas within the Sydney basin earmarked as potential offset areas, so that bushland in urban areas can be developed.

The government said the scheme provides an alternative source of income for rural landowners who may otherwise be considering subdividing their land for developers, as they can now be paid not to clear the land, maintaining large areas of bushland that will be preserved as a whole.

"The reality is that development for urban expansion is continuing in this country due to the growth in population," said Sartor. "The conservation outcomes we have been achieving on that have not always been terrific. What this does is says 'let's greatly expand the amount of land that is permanently conserved'."

Critics say the scheme could permit the destruction of protected land that might otherwise be preserved.

The NSW Greens have labelled bio-banking a sham, arguing it will cause a net reduction in biodiversity. "It is simply a nonsense to assert that saving a sensitive environment in one place means that you have protected biodiversity," Green MP Sylvia Hale told Channel Nine news. "The effect of bio-banking will be that sensitive lands in desirable locations will be lost forever, along with the rare plant and animal species that exist only on those sites."

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said in a statement that bio-banking would allow developers "to buy their way out of protecting threatened species and their habitat", pointing out that certain threatened species might exist only in areas earmarked for development.

However, bio-banking is becoming increasingly popular amongst policy makers worldwide as they attempt to provide developers with an incentive to improve biodiversity protection. A number of schemes have been trialled in the US, as well as Australia, and the British Conservative Party also expressed interest in the concept in the run up to the recent election.