To halt the decline of threatened species, ensure full funding and implementation of strong, enforceable Recovery Plans for all threatened species and ecological communities in WA, updated at least every five years, with legal powers to protect species from threatening processes as they emerge. Strategies should include:
- adopting new perceptions of, and legal protections for, ‘critical habitat’, that are upheld in assessment processes;
- ensuring compliance with Recovery Plans and greater reporting requirements for DBCA to improve the condition of threatened species with the goal of zero new extinctions;
- ensuring full funding and implementation of Recovery Plans for all threatened species and ecological communities in WA, updated at least every five years;
- mandating and enforcing the compliance of projects that may impact on the habitat of a species with a Recovery Plan and with severe penalties for non-compliance that provide a material disincentive;
- strengthening regulatory enforcement capability;
- requiring public reporting on the implementation of Recovery Plans and identifying key metrics to assess overall impacts to threatened species as performance indicators;
- prioritising the creation, funding and implementation of Recovery Plans for all threatened species; and
- assessing and managing cumulative impacts on threatened species