Cumberland Subregion BIO Map Biodiversity Corridors of Regional Significance

The Biodiversity Investment Opportunities Map (BIO Map) is a key deliverable of the NSW Government’s $40 million Green Corridors program, a Government priority action identified in NSW 2021: A Plan to make NSW number one. The map was prepared with funding provided by the NSW Environmental Trust.

BIO Map has been prepared for the Cumberland subregion, a 275,693-hectare area containing the Cumberland Plain, a broad shale basin in Western Sydney. The areas identified for investment are termed priority investment areas, and include core areas and biodiversity corridors of regional significance (this layer).

Mapping criteria were used to identify and map priority investment areas, and targeted stakeholder consultation was conducted to inform the outputs of the project. Stakeholders consulted included the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, six state government authorities, 16 local councils and eight non-government organisations.

The final Cumberland subregion BIO Map identifies a network of 87 core areas and 27 regional biodiversity corridors within the Cumberland subregion. The 87 core areas include all of the Priority Conservation Lands identified by the Cumberland Plain Recovery Plan. The total area represented within the mapped priority investment areas is 42,124 hectares. Mapped regional corridors make up 17,727 hectares (excluding areas mapped as both regional corridors and core areas).

The BIO Map project aims to achieve better biodiversity outcomes by directing biodiversity investment funding to the strategic locations of greatest benefit. A landholder’s right to carry out agricultural and developmental activities on their land are not altered by their property being identified as a priority investment area on the BIO Map. The BIO Map identifies areas where landowners have more opportunities to receive funding to protect their bushland. Any involvement by a landowner in such programs is entirely voluntary.