Proponents of development projects (e.g., new roads, mines, dams) are frequently required to assess and manage their impacts on threatened biodiversity. Here, we propose that the environmental legislation and standards that mandate such assessments are failing those threatened species and ecological communities listed as vulnerable. Using a case study of Australia's key environmental legislation, we highlight that vulnerable ecological communities receive no statutory protection, while vulnerable species are held to a less stringent standard in the impact assessment process compared with those that are endangered or critically endangered. In the 19 years since Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was enacted, four times as many vulnerable species have declined in their threat status than have improved. Beyond Australia, we demonstrate the global relevance of this issue, as it applies to internationally recognized best practice impact assessment guidelines. These cases provide a cautionary tale: without greater attention and stricter assessment criteria in the impact assessment process, the vulnerable species of today risk becoming the endangered species of tomorrow, with all the attendant costs and missed opportunities for recovery that this implies.

中文翻译：

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脆弱的物种和生态系统正在经历环境影响评估的裂痕

通常需要发展项目的支持者（例如，新的道路，矿山，水坝）来评估和管理其对受威胁生物多样性的影响。在这里，我们建议，要求进行此类评估的环境法规和标准使那些被列为脆弱物种的受威胁物种和生态社区无法通过。通过对澳大利亚关键环境立法的案例研究，我们强调弱势生态社区没有得到任何法定保护，而与处于濒危或极度濒危状态的物种相比，弱势物种在影响评估过程中所遵循的标准不那么严格。自澳大利亚的《 1999年环境保护和生物多样性保护法》以来的19年间颁布后，其易受攻击的物种下降的数量是其改善状况的四倍。在澳大利亚以外，我们证明了此问题的全球相关性，因为它适用于国际公认的最佳实践影响评估指南。这些案例提供了一个警示性的故事：在影响评估过程中，如果没有更多的关注和更严格的评估标准，那么今天的脆弱物种就有可能成为明天的濒危物种，这伴随着所有随之而来的代价和错失的恢复机会。