What do you want to do?
- I want to establish a native vegetation credit site
- I want to establish a first-party offset site
- I am removing native vegetation and need to secure an offset
- I want to search for an offset matching my requirement (Native Vegetation Credit Register)
What is an offset?
An offset compensates for biodiversity losses arising from native vegetation removal.
Offset owners secure and manage offset sites to improve native vegetation conditions. DEECA describes these improved outcomes for biodiversity as a 'gain'.
Native Vegetation Offset program
An offset can be the ongoing protection and management of:
- a patch of native vegetation
- one or more scattered trees, or
- an area of revegetation.
Offsets are either first or third-party offsets. The following information sheet explains this in more detail: A quick comparison of first-party and third-party offset sites (PDF, 195.1 KB).
How is gain calculated?
Landowners can generate different types of gain, including:
- Prior management gain – this acknowledges past management undertaken by a landowner on a freehold site, before establishing the offset site. Prior management gain only applies to existing native vegetation.
- Security gain – this is generated when a landowner increases the protection of native vegetation on their land.
- Maintenance gain – this is achieved by giving up currently allowed land uses and controlling threats that affect native vegetation conditions to avoid the expected decline in native vegetation conditions predicted to occur over 10 years.
- Improvement gain – this is achieved from management commitments that are predicted to improve the current vegetation condition over 10 years.
- Gain can only be generated by management actions and commitments that are in addition to existing obligations under legislation, existing agreements or contracts.
If you would like an accessible version of any published document, please contact nativevegetation.support@delwp.vic.gov.au.
Page last updated: 07/01/25