The former head of state’s environmental watchdog has accused the government’s biodiversity offsets scheme of sabotaging its habitat conservation incentive by tanking the biobanking sector with lowball offers.
The NSW Ombudsman is investigating the claim as the problematic biodiversity offsets scheme, created to build a financial market around environmental protection, is overhauled amid criticism from property developers and conservationists alike over the volatility of its credit pricing. Mr Buffier appeared before the inquiry on Thursday, having been engaged by a group of investors who owned significant credits for the black-eyed susan, a vulnerable shrub confined to growing between Sydney and Port Macquarie, where its habitat has dwindled due to development.The former Office of Environment and Heritage valued the investors’ total allotment on the coastal site in Lake Macquarie as more than $5.8 million when entering into the biobanking agreement with them in 2018.
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, which oversees the running of the biodiversity offsets scheme, declined to comment, citing the inquiry and the Ombudsman’s investigation as reasons.