A recovery team can submit their terms of reference to the Department to be nationally registered if it is:
- developing or overseeing the implementation of an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) recovery plan or conservation advice, or multiple plans,
- operating consistently with the recovery team governance best practice guidelines, and
- agreeing to report annually according to these guidelines.
Becoming a nationally registered recovery team provides national recognition for your work, and enables groups to become part of a national network. Registration provides a level of confidence that a recovery team has been established using best practice methods and will collectively provide a strong platform to stop the decline of, and support the recovery of threatened species.
A nationally registered recovery team’s terms of reference should demonstrate how the team will operate in accordance with these best practice guidelines. A guide and template for developing Terms of reference for recovery teams is below.
To maintain registration the team should provide annual reporting in accordance with the national monitoring and reporting framework.
To assist recovery teams in seeking national registration, a self-assessment checklist has been developed.
Use this checklist with the guidelines to self-assess your team’s governance arrangements.
- Checklist seeking National Registration
- Developing terms of reference - a guide
- Recovery team governance - Best practice guidelines
- Monitoring and Reporting
Please submit the checklist, along with your terms of reference by emailing recoveryplans@environment.gov.au, Subject: Recovery team terms of reference. Include a contact person, the name of your recovery team and an email address and/or phone number.
You will be contacted once your Checklist and Recovery Team Terms of Reference have been received by the Department.
A list of nationally registered recovery teams will be published on the Department's website and recovery team reporting will be published annually. In seeking national registration a recovery team should provide contact details it is happy to make publicly available should people wish to contact the team.
It is acknowledged that there are operating recovery groups or similar governance structures that may not wish to be nationally registered but nevertheless they are making a significant contribution to the recovery of threatened species. These guidelines are developed to be used to complement other planning systems and governance arrangements and can be applied more broadly if appropriate.