Comments on this assessment closed 19 May 2021. The text and documents below remain available for reference only.
Comment on Listing Assessments
About the nomination and assessment
Each year on behalf of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment invites public nominations for items that merit listing as threatened under national environment law. The Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion was nominated for listing as a threatened ecological community in 2017 and was prioritised for assessment that year.
The Committee’s assessment and advice to the Minister for the Environment is due by 30 July 2021.
Proposed Conservation Status: Endangered or Critically Endangered
Distribution: Wet Tropics of North Queensland, from around Ingham (just south of the Cardwell Range) in the south to north around Cape Tribulation.
Invitation to comment
The EPBC Act requires the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to undertake public consultation on nominations accepted for a full scientific assessment. The Committee particularly seeks comments on whether the Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion is eligible for listing under the proposed conservation status, but also invites other relevant comments and information.
How can I get involved?
Read the consultation documents
The draft scientific assessment, in the draft Conservation Advice, recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as Endangered (or Critically Endangered), based on evidence that it has declined in extent by approximately 70%; it has a very restricted geographic distribution, based on small patch sizes, coupled with demonstrable threats throughout the range; and it has had a severe to very severe reduction in ecological integrity of the remaining patches of the rainforest due to clearing, legacy impacts of fragmentation (such as weed invasion), feral animals and other impacts such as changes to hydrology.
Draft Conservation Advice for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (PDF - 1.56 MB)
Draft Conservation Advice for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (DOCX - 1.04 MB)
Consultation Guides in plain language are also provided to help the public understand what this ecological community is and what listing ecological communities under the EPBC Act means for people who may have patches on their property.
Public Consultation Guide for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (PDF - 1.57 MB)
Public Consultation Guide for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (DOCX - 3.54 MB)
Consultation Guide for Traditional Owners for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (PDF - 150.11 KB)
Consultation Guide for Traditional Owners for Lowland Tropical Rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (DOCX - 677.62 KB)
Map - Lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics Bioregion (PDF - 2.35 MB)
Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities
The Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Ecological Communities are also available to explain the criteria and concepts by which an ecological community can be determined as threatened in a particular conservation category.
Send your comments
The Committee welcomes the views of experts, land managers, Traditional Owners, other stakeholders and the general public on the draft Conservation Advice for the ecological community.
Responses are required to be submitted by 19 May 2021.
You are welcome to forward this request to advise other relevant key people or groups in your networks about this opportunity for comment. We would greatly appreciate your help to get input from land managers and other agencies and groups involved with biodiversity conservation, land management, primary industries and planning.
Questions to guide comments can be found within the Draft Conservation Advice.
Please support your comments with information and data, preferably supported by published studies or observations. If some of that information is not published, indicate whether you would you be willing to be quoted as an expert or source (“personal communication”).
Responses are to be provided in writing either by email to: epbc.nominations@environment.gov.au
or by mail to:
The Director
Ecological Communities Section
Biodiversity Conservation Division
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
PO Box 858
Canberra ACT 2601
Privacy
Personal information that you provide will only be used for these purposes. Personal information may be disclosed to employees of Australian Government agencies assisting the Committee for the purposes outlined above. The Department will deal with personal information contained in, or provided in relation to, responses in accordance with its Privacy Policy.
Further, the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments have agreed to share threatened species assessment documentation (including comments) to ensure that all States and Territories have access to the same documentation when making a decision on the status of a potentially threatened species. This is also known as the ‘common assessment method’. As a result, any personal information that you have provided in connection with your comments may be shared between Commonwealth, State or Territory government entities to assist with their assessment processes.