Critical habitat determination

Nature protection laws in Victoria are complex and confusing, even to those who use them.

Our existing laws have a limited view of the environment. They’re crafted in a way that can prioritise industry and development over the integrity of the living web of nature we all depend on.

It’s been 35 years since the introduction of our main threatened species protection laws – the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act,1988 (FFG Act). The Act’s primary objective is to “guarantee” that Victoria’s native plants and animals can persist in the wild indefinitely.

Yet over 2000 of our native plants, animals and habitats are endangered. A confounding 559 of those are teetering on the brink of extinction. Even with legal protection under the FFG Act.

This is because nature laws are only as good as the money spent on carrying them out and the level of political will to take action.

We thought threatened wildlife habitats would be protected within national parks. But one little critter has changed our understanding of how effective our nature laws actually are. Its name is the Mount Donna Buang Wingless Stonefly.

During our work to protect the stonefly’s sensitive habitat from 177 kilometres of mountain bike tracks in the Yarra Ranges National Park it became clear that even park status cannot guarantee the safety of our most threatened wildlife.

The Mount Donna Buang Wingless Stonefly is one of over two thousand threatened plants, animals and habitats listed in Victoria. It’s time our political leaders started using the legal conservation tools available to them.

One of those tools is called the Critical Habitat Determination (CHD).  Refreshed by the Andrews’ Government in 2019, this tool makes it possible to protect specific ‘critical’ areas that are essential to the survival of threatened plants, animals and communities.

Until now it’s been completely neglected, and we are yet to see its full powers in play. Hopefully that will soon change.

If an area is found to be critical habitat, the environment minister must also consider whether a Habitat Conservation Order (HCO) should be created. HCOs give these areas an even higher level of protection. They trump the planning scheme and give the secretary the power to suspend inappropriate activities and approvals that don’t align with the order.

But to date, just one (quickly withdrawn) critical habitat determination has been made under the FFG Act by our environment department in three decades.

The Stonefly is only found in seasonal streams and weak trickles of melted snow high on Mount Donna Buang. With such a tiny range, any change to its habitat spells doom. We’ve applied for this little critter to be safeguarded by this little-known and never-used legal tool.

If approved, this would be a game-changer for the future of the Mount Donna Buang Stonefly and could set a major precedent for the protection of threatened wildlife.