The reasons for listing species and key threatening processes are included in the Scientific Committee's determinations.
Determinations made before 25 August 2017 refer to the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and the Threatened Species Conservation Regulation 2010. This legislation and regulation have been replaced by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017.
Any individual can nominate a species, ecological community or threatening process for consideration by the Scientific Committee to be listed or delisted.
| Preliminary determination | Provisional listing on an emergency basis | Final determination | Minor amendment | Conservation assessment reports that do not require the schedules to be updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proposed listing, or change to a listing on the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 | Listing on the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 for up to 2 years | Listing, or change to listing on the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 | Minor changes not resulting in listing status to the Schedules of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 | Updated assessment of the risk of extinction against the criteria in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 using the Common Assessment Method |
Preliminary determinations
Read about and make submissions about preliminary determinations on public exhibition.
See all preliminary determinations pending finalisation.
Provisional determinations
Provisional determinations of a critically endangered or endangered species are prepared on an emergency basis.
If there is a surprise discovery of a new species native to New South Wales or an extinct species is rediscovered, the Scientific Committee may be able to fast-track its listing as a critically endangered or endangered species.
Find out more and see species currently listed by a provisional determination.
Final determinations
After considering any submissions, the Scientific Committee makes a final determination and a notice is published on the department's website to announce the outcome of the assessment.
If the final determination supports a listing, then it will be added to the Schedules of the Act when the final determination is published on the NSW legislation website.
Find out more about and search for final determinations made since 1996 by the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee and its predecessor, the NSW Scientific Committee.
Recent final determinations for the last 6 months are listed on the final determinations webpage.
Minor amendments
Minor changes may be made to the threatened species Schedules to reflect changes in the names of species as a result of taxonomic revision and to correct minor errors and omissions.
Minor amendments are not put on public exhibition for comment.
Read more about minor amendments to the Schedules.
Conservation assessment reports that do not require the Schedules to be updated
The Scientific Committee review the risk of extinction for listed species against the criteria in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 using the Common Assessment Method. If the outcome of the assessment results in no change to the listed status of a species, the Committee publish an updated conservation assessment report.
Bioregions referenced in ecological community determinations
When determining the bioregions where an ecological community occurs, the Scientific Committee uses the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia. The Scientific Committee’s determinations indicate which version has been referenced for a particular ecological community.
The Committee currently uses the Commonwealth of Australia (2012) Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, Version 7, Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. For more information go to Australia's bioregions (IBRA).
For determinations made before March 2013, the Scientific Committee used Thackway R, Cresswell ID (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia: a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserve System Cooperative Program, Version 4.0, Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra.
View a map of the IBRA 4 bioregions (PDF 695KB) from Thackway and Cresswell 1995.