A one-day conference, movie screening and 1/2-day field trip taking a deep-dive into the Leard Forest ecological catastrophe that will explore biodiversity offsets and what they really are.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Speakers include (click on each image to read more):
Conference Chairman: James Ryan
James is a solicitor who has a background in local government and environmental conservation. He was elected to Cessnock Council and served as a councillor for 12 years. He has a deep interest in local representation, planning law and how communities struggle to gain fair decisions from local councils and governments.
Brendan Sydes, National Biodiversity Policy Lead, Australian Conservation Foundation
KEYNOTE SPEECH. “Nature conservation vs Biodiversity Offsetting and Nature Repair: is the new wave of nature monetisation saving or sacrificing threatened species and ecosystems?”
The Hon Sue Higginson MLC (Greens), NSW Legislative Council
“Is the new NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act going to repair the biodiversity offsets problems? Lessons from Parliamentary Inquiries and the NSW Audit Office”
Kirsty Ruddock, Managing Lawyer, Safe Climate Corporate & Commercial team, Environmental Defender’s Office
“Enforcement failure is regulatory failure – barriers to the legal enforcement of biodiversity offsets conditions and opportunities for nature disclosure under some of the new sustainable finance requirements”
Maria Matthes, Threatened Species Conservation Ecologist, Healing History and Koala rescuer, researcher, advocate and educator
“Koalas cheated by inadequate legislation, inadequate ecological assessments, deceptive offsets, and power imbalances within planning processes: the problems, consequences, and what best practice should look like”
Phil Spark, Ecologist, North West Ecological Services
“Leard State Forest: Maules Creek offsets, false mapping, lack of ground-truthing and other abuses of science”
Wendy Hawes, Director and Ecologist, The Envirofactor Ecological Consultancy
“Leard State Forest: Maules Creek offsets, false mapping, lack of ground-truthing and other abuses of science”
Anna Christie, Research Officer, Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre Inc, co-founder of Leard Forest Research Node
“What the Maules Creek blasting prosecutions tell us about offset fallacies”
Roselyn Druce, Maules Creek community member
“Proposed expansion of Maules Creek and Boggabri Mines and the Leard Regional Biodiversity Strategy update. How they make a mockery of the biodiversity schemes”
Elizabeth Laird, Maules Creek community member
“Proposed expansion of Maules Creek and Boggabri Mines and the Leard Regional Biodiversity Strategy update. How they make a mockery of the biodiversity schemes”
Chris Schuringa, The Sunrise Project, former Campaign Coordinator, Victorian Forest Alliance and veteran of the Goongerah Environment Centre, Victoria
“Citizen science and why community monitoring is an essential part of ground-truthing and ecological verification”
Scott Daines, South East Forest Rescue Inc
“Citizen science and why community monitoring is an essential part of ground-truthing and ecological verification”
CONFERENCE DETAILS:
This conference is organised by the Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre Inc, Narrabri and supported by the NSW Nature Conservation Council, taking place on Gomeroi Traditional Land and is for environmental governance professionals, academics, ecologists, scientists and conservationists about the problems and consequences with biodiversity offsetting.
Ten years after the destruction of the critically endangered Leard Forest woodland began we will deep-dive into the planning failures surrounding an endangered ecosystem.
The weekend will also include a film showing and a field trip. See the feature documentary “Black Hole” and spend a 1/2-day in the Leard Forest coal mining precinct.
The program can be downloaded as PDF here.
Programme_BOCGlobally, and in Australia particularly, loss of biodiversity caused by human activities is resulting in high species extinction rates. Biodiversity offsetting is an attempt to address the loss of species and endangered habitats caused by development by compensating the loss, as a form of impact mitigation.
Public trust in the scientific and legal foundations of biodiversity offsetting is non-existent. A 2023 independent review of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act recommended fundamental reform, finding that the Act is ‘not meeting its primary purpose of maintaining a healthy, productive and resilient environment, and is never likely to do so’.
Evidence suggests that monitoring of offsets is frequently absent or flawed, meaning that the success of the mitigation measures and their associated biodiversity outcomes, are compromised.
The Leard Forest is a cautionary example of the failings of biodiversity offsets.
WHERE:
The Crossing Theatre, 117 Tibbereena Street, NARRABRI NSW 2390 – Friday evening, 21st February 2025 and Saturday, 22nd February 2025
Tag-Along tour ends at Leard Forest mine precinct Boggabri – Sunday morning, 23rd February 2025, meet at The Crossing Theatre car park
WHEN:
Friday, 21st February 2025 7:30PM (Optional):
Screening of “BLACK HOLE FEATURE DOCUMENTARY”, a film by director and filmographer Dujon Pereira about the protest to protect the Leard State Forest. It is over ten years since they started felling the forest to build coal mines, a critically endangered White-Box Woodland in north-west NSW. *Free entry
Saturday 22nd February 2025, 9:00AM-5:00PM
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS “BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS: Problems and Consequences”
Sunday 23rd February 2025, 7:00AM-11:00AM (Optional):
Guided tour of Leard Forest Coal Mining Precinct. *Free to join, own car preferred tag-along road tour.
About WANDO Conservation & Cultural Centre
This website is honoured to host the forthcoming Biodiversity Offsets: Problems and Consequences Conference on behalf of the Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre Inc, Narrabri’s dedicated environmental group since 2015.
“Wando” is the name of Cliff Wallace’s property at Maules Creek, which hosted the Leard Forest Blockade from 2013-2015. This was an attempt to oppose the destruction of the Leard Forest for coal mining.
Since the Maules Creek mine and Boggabri mine extension commenced, Wando Conservation and Cultural Centre has been a strong voice in favour of planning system integrity and honest science around the impacts of extractive industries in the Namoi Valley. Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre stands up for the Gomeroi Traditional Custodians, in their ongoing resistance against the destruction of their ancestral land.
MORE INFO:
If you would like to discuss the Biodiversity Offsets Conference, call Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre Conference Secretariat on 0494 183 525.
Supported by:
