Peat Mining as a Threatening Process

1. Name or description of the nominated key threatening process

Peat mining at Wingecarribee Swamp.

2. Statement with regard to the Endangered Species Protection Regulations

The nomination has been assessed by officers of the Threatened Species and Communities Section, Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia. ESSS has been advised that the information supplied with the nomination meets all the requirements specified by Regulation.

3. Nomination support and advice

Comments and advice were received from the following individuals, organisations and agencies:

• NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
• NSW Department of Mineral Resources
• Sydney Water
• Dr Peter Clarke, University of New England
• Dr Geoff Hope, Australian National University
• Mr Phillip Kodela , Royal Botanic Gardens

Drs Clarke and Hope and Mr Kodela supported the nomination on the grounds that peat mining is a destructive, non-ecologically sustainable industry that is threatening to destroy the habitat of two listed species and other taxa endemic to the Wingecarribee Swamp.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service strongly supported the nomination and stated that they have been collaborating with Sydney Water to develop a plan of management for the swamp and to maintain its ecological integrity. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have sought the area as a nature reserve. Sydney Water (who own Wingecarribee Swamp) supported the nomination of peat mining as a threatening process on the basis that the joint Draft Plan of Management (November, 1995) will provide a way of abating the threat.

The NSW Department of Mineral Resources stated ‘the nomination is unnecessary and a threat abatement plan would also be unnecessary as it duplicates a process addressed in the Mining Rehabilitation and Environmental Management Plan’ which would be required under the conditions of mining lease renewal.

4. How judged by ESSS in regard to the ESP Act criteria

Wingecarribee Swamp, located on the Southern Highlands of NSW is the largest upland peat swamp in Australia. Peat has been extracted commercially from the swamp since 1972. Applications for mining the rest of the peat deposit, estimated to be approximately 24 million cubic metres could result in the removal of up to 18 million cubic metres of peat. This would result in the total destruction of the habitat. Two species listed on Schedule 1 of the Act occur in the swamp and nowhere else.

Section 23.(3) of the Act states:

For the purposes of this section, a threatening process is eligible to be treated as a key threatening process if:

(a) it:

(i) adversely affects 2 or more listed species or 2 or more listed ecological communities; or

(ii) could cause native species or ecological communities that are not endangered to become endangered; and

(b) the preparation and implementation of a nationally co-ordinated threat abatement plan is a feasible, effective and efficient way to abate the process.

A. Does the threatening process affect 2 or more listed native species?
Two listed vascular plant species are adversely affected by mining of peat for horticultural purposes at Wingecarribee Swamp: Gentiana wingecarribiensis and Prasophyllum uroglossum. Continued peat mining could cause these species to become extinct.

ESSS judges that the threatening process meets s.23(3)(a)(i) of the Act.

B. Would the preparation and implementation of a nationally co-ordinated threat abatement plan be a feasible, effective and efficient way to abate the process?
The nomination put the view that a threat abatement plan that addresses the long term management of both the swamp and its catchment would ensure the continuance of habitat for the listed species. The nomination suggested that although the Commonwealth’s direct power to affect mining is limited, a threat abatement plan could provide for the prohibition of exports from the site and of the use of peat from this site in Commonwealth funded projects.

The land owner, Sydney Water, and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have a commitment to conservation and protection of this area. Their joint development of a management plan for the swamp and the two listed species show that preparation of a threat abatement plan could be a feasible, effective and efficient way of abating the threat.

The threatening process occurs wholly within the State of New South Wales. Attorney General’s Department advice to ESSS is that the Minister may list a threatening process that occurs wholly within a State as a Key Threatening Process if he is satisfied that the preparation and implementation of a State Threat Abatement Plan, with appropriate assistance from the Commonwealth, would be a feasible, effective and efficient way to abate the process. Such a plan could then be adopted under the Act. It should be noted that a plan of management is in preparation.

Peat mining at Wingecarribee Swamp is authorised by permits or licences issued by the State of New South Wales. It should be noted that the Commonwealth has not specified peat as a product over which export controls are exercised, although this is possible.

ESSS judges that the threatening process meets s.23.(3)(b) of the Act if the State of New South Wales is prepared to develop a State Threat Abatement Plan that would effectively abate the threat and would be acceptable to the Minister. Such a plan could be based on the Draft Plan of Management already developed by Sydney Water.

1. The Minister consult the Minister for the Environment in the State of New South Wales and ascertain whether New South Wales will prepare a State Threat Abatement Plan that would abate the threat of peat mining at Wingecarribee Swamp on listed species.

2. Should the State of NSW agree to prepare a State Threat Abatement Plan and the Minister be satisfied that the State Threat Abatement Plan is a feasible, effective and efficient means of abating the threat imposed by peat mining, ‘Peat mining at Wingecarribee Swamp’ be listed on Schedule 3 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992.

The Minister for the Environment was unable to make a decision on the ESSS interim advice on ‘Peat mining at Wingecarribee Swamp’ as a key threatening process under Schedule 3 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 on 19 February 1998.

Advice to the Minister for the Environment
from the Endangered Species Scientific Subcommittee (ESSS) on a proposal to add a key threatening process to Schedule 3 of the
Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (the ESP Act), http://www.environment.gov.au/bg/wildlife/lists/advices/threats/peatmin.htm