A NSW Government website

The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme

The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme provides a mechanism to avoid, minimise and offset the impacts of development and some types of clearing on biodiversity in New South Wales.

View of motorway intersection interspersed with sections of trees with buildings and sky in the distance
Clear and develop land

Resources to help developers understand how the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme applies to them

Kangaroo Valley Coast to Highlands farmland native vegetation clearing
Generate credits with a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement

A Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement helps conserve habitat for native species and ecosystems and generates biodiversity credits that can be sold to fund management of weeds, pests, fire, and ecological restoration

Woman dressed in green long sleeved shirt wearing whit and green hat, carrying clipboard in green bushland
For accredited assessors

Under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 assessors must be accredited to apply the Biodiversity Assessment Method

View shows subdivisions and buildings under construction and areas of grassland, trees and hills in distance
For local government and decision makers

Local government and other decision makers are key partners in the conservation and management of biodiversity and threatened species in New South Wales