Purpose and legislative contextPurpose and legislative context

Purpose and legislative context

This draft recovery plan has been prepared under the terms of Part 13 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and associated Regulations.

The Minister must make and implement recovery plans, or adopt plans prepared by others (including State agencies), for threatened species (other than conservation dependent species) listed under the EPBC Act [ss.269; 269A]. When endorsed by the Commonwealth Minister, recovery plans are statutory documents. They provide guidance for government decision makers when assessing development applications and Natural Heritage Trust funding proposals.

The EPBC Act sets out requirements for the content of recovery plans [s.270] with more specific requirements in Regulations [7.11]. Recovery plans:

• set out management actions necessary to stop the decline of, and support the recovery of, the listed species to maximise the long term survival of the species in the wild;
• set out actions required to protect and restore important populations of the species and its habitat, and to manage and reduce threatening processes; and
• provide a planned framework for key interest groups and responsible government agencies to coordinate their work to conserve the species.

This plan is for the listed Critically Endangered plant species Asplenium listeri (Aspleniaceae) (Christmas Island Spleenwort) which is found only on Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), an external Territory.

PART A: SPECIES INFORMATION AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS