Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package - An Analysis of Methodology for Environmental Regulatory Efficacy

Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package - An Analysis of Methodology for Environmental Regulatory Efficacy

The Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package (ABSP) is a federal government initiative that has the potential to significantly increase biodiversity and provide ecologically sustainable development to the agriculture sector. How well this occurs partly depends on the regulatory framework setting it up which is under review with the enabling Bill currently before federal Parliament. Key problem areas examined in this article are: operation of the biodiversity certification scheme, methodologies for measuring biodiversity growth and operation of the biodiversity credits trading platform. Getting these areas right in a regulatory framework presents many challenges, not least of which is to account for different farm types and landscapes and presenting a clear dichotomy between regulatory prescription and allowance for discretionary decision-making. This article examines the issue from the perspective of how to address these challenges by examining construction of regulatory frameworks, how this dichotomy between regulatory prescription and discretionary decision-making is managed and what is required in order to achieve regulatory eco-efficacy when implementing the ABSP program.

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in the Environmental and Planning Law Journal and should be cited as Rhett Martin, Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package – an analysis of methodology for environmental regulatory efficacy (2022) 38 EPLJ 451. For all subscription inquiries please phone, from Australia: 1300 304 195, from Overseas: +61 2 8587 7980 or online at https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/en-au/contact.html. The official PDF version of this article can also be purchased separately from Thomson Reuters at http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/subscribe-or-purchase.