Protected areas of Australia

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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 (Northern Territory and Australian Capital 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 and Water Resources, 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 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 ares, 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]

World Heritage Listed Areas

• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)
• Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, formerly Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves
• Fraser Island
• Great Barrier Reef
• Greater Blue Mountains Area
• Heard and McDonald Islands
• Kakadu National Park
• Lord Howe Island
• Macquarie Island
• Purnululu National Park
• Shark Bay
• Tasmanian Wilderness
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
• Wet Tropics of Queensland
• Willandra Lakes Region

Source: UNESCO ^[3]

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; a small portion of all the protected areas of Australia. Each state and territory is responsible for the management of the state and territory protected areas under its jurisdiction. This does not include the Commonwealth areas listed below, some of which (e.g. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) are inside state and territory boundaries. Most Australian "national" parks are managed by the state and territory governments.

National Parks

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

• Booderee
• Christmas Island
• Kakadu
• Norfolk Island
• Pulu Keeling National Park
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta

Botanical Gardens

• Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden
• Australian National
• Booderee
• Norfolk Island
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne

Specially Protected Areas (part of the Antarctic Treaty Areas)

• No. 1
• No. 2
• No. 3
• Heard and McDonald Islands

Special Scientific Interest Sites (part of the Antarctic Treaty Areas)

• No. 7
• No. 16
• No. 17
• No. 25

Marine Reserves or Parks

Federal

The Australian Government manages an estate of marine protected areas (MPA) that are Commonwealth reserves under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

• Australian Whale Sanctuary

Marine Parks

• Great Australian Bight
• Great Barrier Reef
• Lord Howe Island
• Ningaloo
• Rowley Shoals
• Shark Bay
• Solitary Islands

Marine National Nature Reserves

• Ashmore Reef
• Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve
• Coringa-Herald (Coral Sea and Island territory)
• Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs (Coral Sea and Island territory)
• Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve
• Lihou Reef (Coral Sea and Island territory)
• Mermaid Reef
• South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network

Marine Reserves

• Cartier Island
• Tasmanian Seamounts

NSW

These are referred aquatic reserves declared under the Fisheries Management Act 1994

• Cook Island (Tweed Heads)
• Barrenjoey Head (Hawkesbury River)
• Narrabeen Head
• Long Reef
• Cabbage Tree Bay (Manly)
• North (Sydney) Harbour
• Bronte-Coogee
• Cape Banks (La Perouse)
• Boat Harbour (Kurnell)
• Towra Point (Botany Bay)
• Shiprock (Port Hacking)
• Bushrangers Bay (Shell Harbour)

Historic Shipwrecks

Further information: Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976

• Aarhus
• Booya
• Cato
• Loch Vennachar

See also

• Australia's National Reserve System
• Protected area
• Indigenous Protected Areas
• Protected areas of the Australian Capital Territory
• Protected areas of New South Wales
• Protected areas of the Northern Territory
• Protected areas of Queensland
• Protected areas of South Australia
• Protected areas of Tasmania
• Protected areas of Victoria
• Protected areas of Western Australia
• List of National parks of Western Australia
• Wild Rivers

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. ^ UNESCO, retrieved 2009-09-22
4. ^ Australian Government: National Reserve System, retrieved 2009-09-22

External links

• Department of the Environment and Water Resources (Australia)
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
• NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
• Parks Victoria
• "Parks & Recreation". NatureBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia. http://www.naturebase.net/content/section/5/96/. Retrieved 2007-02-21.