Hon. Diane Evers questions the Minister for Environment regarding the Western Australian Biodiversity Audit II, its lack of further development, and related biodiversity data collection and recovery plans. The Minister provides answers regarding data collection and recovery plans.

AnsweredQoN 1232Legislative Council
Asked
23 October 2019
Portfolio
Environment

QuestionView source ↗

ENVIRONMENT —
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN BIODIVERSITY AUDIT
1232. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the minister's
response to my question on notice 2300 on the Western Australian Biodiversity
Audit II, specifically that no further development of Biodiversity Audit II is
planned to be undertaken by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and
Attractions at this time. The audit was completed in 2013.
(1) Why is no further development
planned at this time?
(2) What actions is the government
currently taking to gather biodiversity data in Western Australia?
(3) What
percentage of the categories of threatened species listed in the Biodiversity
Audit II database have recovery plans?
(4) Has data on
the genetic diversity of species and ecological communities been collected;
and, if yes, what data has the government collected and will this information
be added to the Biodiversity Audit II database; and, if no, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The
Biodiversity Audit II is a snapshot in time and the database is an effective
means of making this information publicly available for ongoing use.
(2) The state government has established the index of
biodiversity surveys for assessments to capture biodiversity data
collected by proponents and is considering the establishment of a database to
effectively curate and manage this data.
(3) The
percentage of the categories of threatened species listed in the Biodiversity
Audit II that have a recovery plan in place is as follows: critically
endangered flora, 99 per cent; critically endangered fauna, 83 per cent;
endangered flora, 55 per cent; endangered fauna, 70 per cent; vulnerable flora,
23 per cent; and vulnerable fauna, 41 per cent.
(4) Genetic
diversity data has been collected across a range of species. This data is
available in scientific publications and public databases. The Biodiversity
Audit II database was not designed to hold genetic diversity data.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more