The Australian Government, through The Director of National Parks, manages Commonwealth parks and reserves including areas located on external island territories and within Australian waters beyond the state limit of three nautical miles. Each Australian State and Territory Government also has its own protected area management agencies.
The majority of Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas declared under the EPBC Act are managed by the Department of the Environment and Heritage under delegation from the Director of National Parks. The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is managed by the Australian Antarctic Division under delegation from the Director. These parks and reserves, which are generally located in remote areas, protect tropical islands and cays, and temperate and sub-Antarctic marine environments. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under separate legislation.
Australia’s governments are working together to establish a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) throughout Australia’s entire marine jurisdiction. (http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/nrsmpa/index.html). The primary goal of the NRSMPA is to establish and manage a CAR system of marine protected areas to contribute to the long-term ecological viability of marine and estuarine systems, to maintain ecological processes and systems, and to protect Australia’s biological diversity at all levels.
Guidelines for Establishing the NRSMPA were prepared to assist government agencies in developing the NRSMPA and to help stakeholders understand this process. The Strategic Plan of Action for the NRSMPA integrates the policy and planning framework and outlines a set of actions to achieve its goals.
The Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA) is the marine equivalent of the IBRA and is an agreed regional framework for planning resource use and biodiversity conservation, including establishing the NRSMPA. The framework's ecosystem-scale (100s – 1000s kilometres) classification of the Australian continental shelf has identified 60 bioregions in Australian waters.
A new Zoning Plan for the entire Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park became law on 1 July 2004. The proportion of the Marine Park protected by highly protected ‘no-take’ zones was increased from less than 5% to more than 33%, and now protects representative examples of each of the 70 broad habitat types identified across the Great Barrier Reef region. Key achievements against this objective include:
Protection of over 33% (>115,000 km2) of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park within the world’s largest network of marine ‘no-take’ areas.
Creation of a network of highly protected areas that is representative of all 70 bioregions (habitats) within the Marine Park.
Migratory species, such as marine turtles and marine mammals, were taken into account during the Representative Areas Program negotiations, undertaken by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Specific principles were developed to guide the incorporation of important dugong and marine turtle habitats into the final network of highly protected areas. For dugongs, the principle target of including approximately 50% of important dugong habitat in highly protected areas was met. For marine turtles, the principle target of including a minimum of 20% of foraging and 100% of important nesting sites in highly protected areas was met. (see: Biophysical Operation Principles at http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/key_issues/conservation/rep_areas/documents/tech_sheet_06.pdf). The approach taken for management of the GBR has been recognised as one of the most comprehensive, innovative and exciting global advances anywhere in the world in recent decades, in the systematic protection of marine biodiversity and marine conservation.
The Natural Heritage Trust
The Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) was set up by the Australian Government in 1997 to help restore and conserve Australia's environment and natural resources. Since then, thousands of community groups and organisations have received funding for environmental and natural resource management projects.
Hot Spots
In 2004 the Australian Government launched a new Hotspot programme. The aim of the new programme is to improve the conservation of Australia's biodiversity hotspots on private and leasehold land by enhancing active conservation management and protection of existing terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems as habitat for native plants and animals. The programme will focus on actions that address matters of national environmental significance.
There are two components to the programme. The first is paying private landholders or lessees in hotspot regions to undertake ‘above and beyond’ duty of care conservation activities to deliver specific biodiversity outcomes. The second is a voluntary land acquisition component targeting outstanding high biodiversity value properties.
II) National targets for specific programmes of work: If such national target(s) ha(s)(ve) been
established, please indicate here, and give further details in the box(es).
IV) Please provide information on current status and trends in relation to this target.
See Box II above.
V) Please provide information on indicators used in relation to this target.
See Target 1.1, Box V) above.
Criteria and indicators based on the Montreal Process are used to report status and trends in Australia’s forests (Section 1.1 of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2003).
VI) Please provide information on challenges in implementation of this target.
The National Reserve System is based, to a large extent, on the acquisition of key properties for the development of a CAR reserve system. Meeting targets usually depends on negotiation on the open market where acquisition prices can be high. Land acquisition for the NRS system is most constrained in the agricultural, higher rainfall, high production zones where extensive clearing of native ecosystems and purchase costs provides few opportunities to acquire private land for conservation purposes.
VII) Please provide any other relevant information.
