Defining Nature Positive - 4 July 2024

4/7/24

I would like to speak in support of the proposed amendment from the member for Goldstein. Nature positive represents a generational reform of our environmental laws and it is really important we get this right. And what must remain as a central purpose of these reforms is that it is about improvement not just protection, that is what nature positive mean. Words really matter. Nature positive adopts language that is globally accepted to refer to a net gain in nature and to achieve a net gain we need to include ambitious and quantifiable targets. Australia has signed up to the global biodiversity framework which includes concrete commitments to halt and reverse nature lost by 2030 and that goal has been consistently adopted around the world to guide urgent action to get nature visibly measurable on the path to recovery and it makes complete sense that we would include this measure in the definition of nature positive in this bill but this bill falls short. There is no goal for recovery, there is no baseline. The bill leaves it to the head of the Environmental Information Australia to determine that baseline the nature positive so I strongly agree with this amendment, that the definition of nature positive should reflect a clear goal to halt biodiversity decline by 2030 measured against a 2021 baseline and it makes sense to make the 2021 baseline consistent with the current national state of the environment report data so I commend this amendment.

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