Ecological Knowledge System

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Overview

The Ecological Knowledge System (EKS) supports the Nature Repair Market by helping assess the potential biodiversity benefits of a project and allowing buyers to compare and have confidence in the benefits of projects.

The EKS is intended to support a range of methods that may be developed for the Nature Repair Market. It will be adapted to appropriately support individual methods.

The National Biodiversity Assessment System (NBAS) is part of the EKS. It is referred to in:

the Replanting native forest and woodland ecosystems method which is currently in place
the draft Enhancing Native Vegetation (ENV) method which is currently under development.

The EKS is designed to enable continuous improvement as the Nature Repair Market evolves, knowledge improves and technology changes over time.

What is changing and why?

We are making changes to:

to support the draft ENV method
improve the science behind the NBAS
enable updates to NBAS scores.

EKS updates for the draft Enhancing Native Vegetation method

To support the draft ENV method we are:

expanding the EKS to include models for grasslands and shrublands. This reflects the wider range of ecosystems eligible under the ENV method.
developing additional NBAS settings to calculate biodiversity benefit scores for ENV projects.
updating the NBAS on the Platform for Land and Nature Repair (PLANR) to enable planning of ENV projects.

Download the draft NBAS settings document for the draft ENV method

Access the draft EKS ecosystem models. Adapted versions of these models underpin the draft ENV method.

EKS updates to improve the science behind the NBAS

We have also improved:

the science behind the NBAS
the way biodiversity benefit scores are calculated.

These improvements will be available when the updated NBAS is released. These updates mean the biodiversity benefit scores that NBAS calculates will change.

Changes to the Nature Repair Rules 2024 enabling updates to NBAS scores

We are proposing amendments to the Nature Repair Rules 2024. These include when a new version of the NBAS is released:

NBAS scores will be recalculated for all registered projects
the updated scores will be published on the Biodiversity Market Register.

This will ensure that scores for all registered projects are up to date, accessible and comparable.

Market project proponents will be notified and helped to understand updates to their project scores. The rule is not intended to create any additional regulatory requirements for proponents.

To read more on the proposed amendments, visit Nature Repair Market: Ongoing development

Ongoing feedback

Provide feedback on the EKS by emailing eks@dcceew.gov.au.

Consultation on a high-level technical summary of the EKS

This consultation closed on 30 October 2024.

Feedback provided to us and CSIRO in response to a high-level technical summary of the proposed approach for the EKS was used to inform the Ecological Knowledge System (EKS) for the Nature Repair Market.