Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Queensland and NSW floods 2022

Visit recovery.gov.au to see what help is available.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Ministers
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Land
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Plant health
    • Drought and rural support
    • Mouse infestation advice
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Water
    Water Improving the sustainable management of Australia’s water resources for agriculture, the environment and communities.
    • Coal, Coal seam gas (CSG) and water
    • Commonwealth Environmental Water Office
    • Water policy and resources
    • Wetlands
    Water matters

    Water Matters

    Keep up with the latest news on the department's work in managing Australia's water resources.

    Read the latest edition here

  • Environment
    Environment Improving stewardship and sustainable management of Australia’s environment.
    • Biodiversity
    • Bushfire recovery
    • Climate change and the environment
    • EPBC Act
    • Environmental information and data
    • International activities
    • Marine
    • Partnerships
    • Protection
    • Report a breach of environment law
    • Threatened species & ecological communities
    • Waste and recycling
  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade Lowering biosecurity risks to Australia, and assisting industry to accelerate growth towards a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Invasive species
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    • Wildlife trade
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Parks and heritage
    Parks and heritage Managing Australia’s iconic national parks, historic places and living landscapes.
    • Australian Marine Parks
    • Australian National Botanic Gardens
    • Booderee National Park
    • Kakadu National Park
    • Christmas Island National Park
    • National parks
    • Norfolk Island National Park
    • Heritage
    • Pulu Keeling National Park
    • The Great Barrier Reef
    • Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park
    The reef

    Great Barrier Reef

    Australia is protecting and conserving this World Heritage Area.

    Find out more

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Climate change
    • Australia's biological resources
    • National Environmental Science Program (NESP)
    • Our science strategy
    • Australian Biological Resource Study (ABRS)
    • State of the Environment (SoE) reporting
    • Bird and bat banding
    • Supervising Scientist
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us Enhancing Australia’s agriculture, environment, heritage and water resources through regulation and partnership.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    A day in the life

    A day in the life...

    Our video series showcases the diverse and important work we do.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Environment
  3. Environmental information and data
  4. Environmental information policy & guidance

Secondary - EN - FED

  • Environmental information and data
    • Databases and applications
    • Web mapping services
      • Accessing web services
    • Managing environmental information
      • Guide to providing maps and boundary data for EPBC Act projects
      • Guidelines for biological survey and mapped data
      • Location data standards for on-ground investments
      • Sensitive ecological data access and management policy
    • Geospatial data and services
    • Open data

Environmental information policy & guidance

We use data to support decision-making under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Our environmental information assets are:

  • diverse in subject
  • from a geographically broad range of places
  • often not available anywhere else.

Our approach is to make data more accessible, discoverable and re-useable. Good data supports good decision-making.

Using our data

We adopted the Australian Governments Open Access and Licensing (AusGOAL) Framework. This allows anyone to use our information assets.

We have a default open access to information policy, except where:

  • information is in some way sensitive, or
  • its creator has restricted its use.

Data guidelines

You may need to provide data and maps if you apply for an EPBC ACT environmental assessment.

Use these guides to find out how to prepare and provide:

  • maps and boundary data
  • biological survey and mapped data

Sensitive data

We maintain many datasets containing:

  • species observation records
  • information on ecological communities of Australia.

Read our policy on how we manage sensitive data.

Location data for on-ground investments

We rely on accurate and consistent location data for on-ground investment areas. We use it when planning, monitoring and reporting on our programs.

See the standards your mapped polygon location data must meet.

Previous programs

National Plan for Environmental Information (NPEI)

NPEI set out to improve the quality and accessibility of environmental information. We worked with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to deliver this program.

BOM continues this work with the National Environmental Information Infrastructure.

Read:

  • NPEI publications
  • National Principles for Environmental Information.

Essential Environmental Measures for Australia

We piloted the Essential Environmental Measures for Australia program from June 2015 to December 2017. It aimed to improve availability of environmental information to support national reporting needs.

We closed the program after a June 2018 evaluation.

Read the:

  • Program evaluation report
  • Vegetation site data: Information model and exchange standard development
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 14 October 2021

© Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.