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To mark National Biodiversity Day, NSW Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe, has released the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust’s Biodiversity Impact Report: Conservation on Private Land 2018–2025. 

The report shows how landholders are not just protecting the environment, they’re actively improving it. 

Data clearly shows that private land conservation is delivering fantastic conservation outcomes across the state. The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) and participating landholders have: 

• Established almost 3,000 permanent biodiversity monitoring sites
• Prevented the loss of approximately 35,000 hectares of native vegetation
• Protected habitat for at least 304 threatened species
• Safeguarded 41 threatened ecological communities
• Contributed nearly 40% of the total area added to NSW’s protected area network since 2018. 

Minister Sharpe said biodiversity is the cornerstone to a healthy environment, from the microorganisms in the soil to the largest tree on the horizon. 

“80 per cent of land in NSW is privately managed. Biodiversity protection can only be done by working closely with private landholders,” she said.  

“These results show how successful this partnership between landholders and the Biodiversity Conservation Trust can be. I would encourage anyone interested to investigate this rewarding partnership for their land.” 

NSW BCT principal ecologist and report author Dr James Brazill-Boast added, “When we support landholders with the right incentives and support, conservation on private land can be planned, implemented and measured with confidence. 

“Long-term monitoring is essential because it tells us not just what we’re doing, but what’s actually working.” 

Read the full Biodiversity Impact Report to explore the results and stories behind conservation on private land in NSW: nsw.gov.au/bct-impact-report