Significant Environmental Benefit (SEB) Offset documents February 2016
The documents focus particularly on Significant Environment Benefit policy and associated guides and assessment manuals. There is clearly a disjunct between the Objects of the Act and the actual performance of Government and the community in conserving native vegetation (as measured by the State of the Environment report).
With this disjunct in mind, Conservation Council SA has examined the Significant Environmental Benefit Offset documents developed by the Native Vegetation Council focusing on the first of the documents (Policy for Significant Environmental Benefit under the Native Vegetation Act 1991 and Native Vegetation Regulations 2003) rather than the other, more technical, Guide and Assessment documents. Our focus has been to assess whether implementation of the Policy is likely to turn around the alarming rating given to native vegetation in the next State of the Environment Report.