Protected areas of Australia

Protected areas of Australia include Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas managed by the Australian government, as well as protected areas within each of the six states of Australia and two self-governing territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, which are managed by the eight state and territory governments.

Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas in the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, the Christmas Island Territory, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Territory, the Norfolk Island Territory and the Australian Antarctic Territory are managed by Parks Australia, a division of the Department of the Environment, with the exception of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a separate body within the department.

Protected areas cover 895,288 km2 (345,673 sq mi) of Australia's land area, or about 11.5% of the total land area. The Australian Capital Territory has the highest level of protection at nearly 55% of its territory, followed by Tasmania with nearly 40% and South Australia with 25%. Lowest level of protection is in Queensland and the Northern Territory with less than 6%.[1] Of all protected areas, two-thirds are considered strictly protected (IUCN categories I to IV), and the rest is mostly managed resources protected area (IUCN category VI). Over 80% of the protected area in Australia is publicly owned and managed by the Australian government or state and territory governments. The second largest component of protected areas are the Indigenous Protected Areas while only 0.3% are privately owned.[2]

Protected areas managed by the Australian government

The following list shows only the Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas that are managed by the Australian government which represents a small portion of all protected areas located in Australia. Each state and territory is responsible for the management of the protected areas under its jurisdiction with exception to protected areas such as the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory. The majority of Australian protected areas are managed by the state and territory governments.

National Parks

The following protected areas which are designated as national parks are managed by the Australian government and in some instances in conjunction with indigenous land owners:[3]

Australia's first national park - and the second in the world - is Royal National Park in New South Wales, established in 1879.[4]

Botanical Gardens

Antarctic Specially Protected Areas

As of 2014 there are 12 Antarctic Specially Protected Areas[8]

Antarctic Specially Managed Areas

As of 2014 there is 1 Antarctic Specially Managed Area[8]

Commonwealth Marine reserves

The Australian Government manages an estate of marine protected areas known as Commonwealth marine reserves (CMR) which was established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). These marine reserves are in Australian waters, but not state or territory waters.[9][10] A majority of the reserves are not in effect until new managements plans are released following a review of reserves established in 2012.[11][12]

In addition to the Coral Sea CMR[13] and the Heard Island and McDonald Islands CMR,[14] there are a further 57 Commonwealth marine reserves grouped into 5 geographical regions called Commonwealth marine reserve networks:

Calperum and Taylorville Stations

Calperum and Taylorville Stations are pastoral leases located next to each other near Renmark in South Australia and which were purchased for conservation purposes using both private and Australian government funds. Calperum Station was purchased by the Chicago Zoological Society in 1993 while Taylorville Station was purchased by the Australian Landscape Trust in 2000 with the ownership of both leases being deeded to the Director of National Parks. Both properties are managed by the Australian Landscape Trust.[20][21]

Historic Shipwrecks with protected zones

The following historic shipwrecks lie within protected or no-entry zones declared under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 for protection and management purposes.[22]

Protection arising from Australian government policy and international treaty obligations

World Heritage listed areas

Source: UNESCO [24]

Ramsar sites

As a contracting party to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (known as the Ramsar Convention), Australia is encouraged "to nominate sites containing representative, rare or unique wetlands, or that are important for conserving biological diversity, to the List of Wetlands of International Importance".[25] As of March 2014, the Australian Government has nominated 65 Ramsar sites.[26]

Biosphere reserves

The following biosphere reserves belonging to the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve program are located within Australia:[27][28]

Indigenous protected areas

An indigenous protected area (IPA) is a class of protected area formed by agreement with Indigenous Australians and formally recognised by the Australian government as being part of the National Reserve System. As of August 2013, 60 IPAs with a total area of 48,000,000 hectares (120,000,000 acres) have been declared.[29][30]

Protected areas managed by Australian states and territories

Refer:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Australian Government:State and territory levels of protection, retrieved 2009-09-22
  2. ↑ Australian Government: Ownership of protected areas, retrieved 2009-09-22
  3. ↑ "National Parks". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Australian Government: National Reserve System, retrieved 2009-09-22
  5. ↑ "Welcome to the Australian National Botanic Gardens". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Welcome to Booderee National Park". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Norfolk Island Botanic Garden". Parks Australia. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 "CAPAD 2014 Commonwealth Summary". Australian Government - Department of the Environment. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Commonwealth marine reserves". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Commonwealth Marine Reserves) Proclamation 2012 - F2012L02188". Commonwealth of Australia, Comlaw. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "About the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review". environment.gov.au. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Smail, Stephanie (6 September 2016). "Conservationists critical of plan to reduce Coral Sea marine park protection". abc.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  13. ↑ "Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Marine reserve". Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "North Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "North-west Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Temperate East Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "South-west Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network". Parks Australia, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Calperum and Taylorville Stations". Australian government, Department of the Environment. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "Danggali Wilderness Protection Area and Conservation Park Management Plan 2011" (PDF). Department of Environment and Natural Resources. p. 2. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  22. ↑ 'Historic shipwreck protected zones,' http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/shipwrecks/protected-zones.html, retrieved 14/08/2012.
  23. ↑ "Japanese ‘mother-shipwreck’ protected for future generations". Commonwealth of Australia. 28 July 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  24. ↑ UNESCO, retrieved 2009-09-22
  25. ↑ "Australia's Ramsar Sites". Department of the Environment (Australia). Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  26. ↑ "Australia's Ramsar Sites" (PDF). Department of the Environment (Australia). Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  27. ↑ "Australia's Biosphere Reserves". Parks Australia. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  28. ↑ "Australia". Man and the Biosphere Programme. UNESCO. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  29. ↑ "Fact Sheets: Indigenous Protected Areas". Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  30. ↑ "Indigenous Protected Areas". Department of the Environment. Retrieved 27 June 2015.


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