Action item 8.9
Progress
Complete.
Approved by decision makers.
Recommendation implemented.
That to compensate for any local vegetation, habitat and biodiversity loss, the Government develops and implements an environmental offset policy to ensure that, where environmental impacts and risks are unable to be avoided or adequately mitigated, they are offset.
That the Government considers the funding of local Aboriginal land ranger programs to undertake land conservation activities as an appropriate offset.
Completed
Action item update
Implementation
The Northern Territory Government released its ‘Northern Territory Offsets Framework’ and ‘Northern Territory Offsets Principles’ in July 2020. The principles support the development of consistent offsetting arrangements and requirements for projects with significant residual environmental impacts in the Northern Territory.
The ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets Policy and Technical Guidelines’ was approved on 5 August 2022.
The ‘Biodiversity Offsets Policy’ was approved on 15 December 2022 and gazetted in accordance with the Environment Protection Act 2019 (Cth) on 10 January 2023.
The framework, principles and guidelines are on the DEPWS website.
The NT Government will continue to support local Aboriginal ranger programs. Petroleum companies will also be encouraged to use the skills and expertise of Aboriginal ranger groups.