Indicator | Reasoning | Assessment grade | Confidence | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Very low | Low | Moderate | High | Very high | In state grade | In trend grade | ||
Distribution (and abundance where possible) of non-indigenous species (plants and vertebrate animals) identified as pests | Plant and animal pests are generally accepted to be major threats to biodiversity. In the human-populated parts of the ACT, cats and Indian Mynas appear to be having major impacts. However, confidence in either grade or trend cannot be high, because there is little specific assessment of the effects of pests and weeds on biodiversity | Stable | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment | ||||
Fire | Although fire can have a major impact on biodiversity, it appears that fire planning and management has limited and will limit this impact within the ACT. Uncertainty about grade and trend comes from the limited data on effects of fire on biodiversity in the ACT | Stable | Limited evidence or limited consensus | Limited evidence or limited consensus | ||||
Direct environmental offsets | By definition, it is assumed by the ACT Government that offsets will result in a net zero or positive impact on biodiversity in the long term. There can be limited confidence in grade and trend because insufficient data have been collected to assess the cumulative impacts of multiple offsets | Stable | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment | ||||
Indirect environmental offsets | By definition, it is assumed by the ACT Government that offsets will result in a net zero or positive impact on biodiversity in the long term. Confidence in grade and trend cannot be assessed because we know of no investigations of whether indirect offsets have achieved their desired outcomes | Stable | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment | Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment |