Who assesses the nomination?
The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee (NSW TSSC) undertakes assessments of species, populations and ecological communities which occur in New South Wales and determines if they are eligible to be listed as threatened (that is, Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable species) in the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016(BC Act).
The NSW TSSC also identifies species that are extinct or extinct in the wild.
The NSW TSSC assesses all nominations received, but some nominations may be given priority over others in line with the NSW TSSC Nomination Priorities (PDF 45.61KB).
The NSW TSSC does not make decisions about threatened fish and marine plants. This is the responsibility of the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee.
Assessment criteria and the Common Assessment Method
There are 3 categories of threat under the BC Act:
- Critically Endangered
- Endangered
- Vulnerable.
The NSW TSSC first assesses the risk of extinction in Australia following the Common Assessment Method (CAM). If a species or ecological community is not threatened at the national scale then the NSW TSSC can assess the risk of extinction in New South Wales.
The NSW TSSC uses the listing criteria in the BC Act and the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 to make these assessments. At least one of the criteria needs to be met to be eligible for listing.
These criteria are based on the assessment criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Read the NSW TSSC guidelines for interpreting the criteria (PDF 1.42 MB).
The NSW TSSC’s Preliminary Determinations and Notices of Final Determination demonstrate how a species, population or ecological community meets the criteria for listing and the reasons for the listing.
The NSW TSSC also prepares a Conservation Assessment Report which shows how a species has been assessed using the CAM. All states and territories in Australia have agreed to adopt this assessment method.
This will ensure a consistent approach based on IUCN criteria to assess threatened species in Australia. It will also ensure a species is listed at the same level of extinction risk at both the Commonwealth, state and territory level and reduce the duplication of assessments.
Key threatening process criteria
The criteria for listing a key threatening process can be found in section 4.32 of the BC Act.
Listing
After reviewing all exhibition submissions on the preliminary determination, the Committee will make its final determination. The final determination includes the Committee's reasons for its decision.
If the final determination supports a listing, it will then be added to the Schedules of the Act when the final determination is published on the NSW legislation website.
Read more about the Schedules of the BC Act.