Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

NATURE CONSERVATION ACT 2014 - SECT 70

    (1)     An ecological community is eligible to be included in the collapsed category in the threatened ecological communities list if there is no reasonable doubt that its defining biotic or abiotic features are lost from all occurrences and the characteristic native biota are no longer sustained.

Example

Collapse may occur when most of the diagnostic components of the characteristic native biota are lost from the ecological community, or when functional components (biota that perform key roles in ecological community organisation) are greatly reduced in abundance and lose the ability to recruit.

    (2)     An ecological community is eligible to be included in the critically endangered category in the threatened ecological communities list if it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

    (3)     An ecological community is eligible to be included in the endangered category in the threatened ecological communities list if—

        (a)     it is not critically endangered; but

        (b)     it is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

    (4)     An ecological community is eligible to be included in the vulnerable category in the threatened ecological communities list if—

        (a)     it is not critically endangered or endangered; but

        (b)     it is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.

    (5)     An ecological community is eligible to be included in the provisional category in the threatened ecological communities list if—

        (a)     there is a strong decline in the size of the ecological community in the ACT and the surrounding region; or

        (b)     the ecological community—

              (i)     exists or is likely to exist in the ACT; and

              (ii)     is listed as a threatened ecological community under a law of another jurisdiction corresponding, or substantially corresponding, to this Act.

    (6)     An ecological community is no longer eligible to be included in the provisional category in the threatened ecological communities list if it has been in the category for 18 months.