Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988

The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 helps protect and manage the biodiversity of the state of Victoria.

In order to achieve this, the Act enables a number of mechanisms, such as listing threatened species, communities and threats to native species; the establishment of a statewide biodiversity management strategy; declaring certain areas as critical habitat; requiring public authorities to take the Act into account in their operations; and requiring permits for certain activities which may affect native plants and animals.

Other environmental groups have echoed the review; for example, the "delays or lack of implementation of key documents required under the FFG Act" was noted by the Victorian Rainforest Network in 2003.

The amendments modernised and strengthened some of the provisions of the Act, such as action preventing species from becoming threatened; adopting the Common Assessment Method, consistent with the national method for assessment and listing of threatened species (as per the EPBC Act[4]); setting up a reporting requirement on the implementation of the statewide Biodiversity Strategy.

[1] Other significant reforms included the introduction of a set of principles to guide decision making (including consultation with traditional owners and the public); a new definition of "critical habitat" to replace the previous one which was too hard to prove and thus implement; the introduction of habitat conservation orders; setting up a new register; and an obligation for the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability to report on achievement of targets in the Biodiversity Strategy every five years.