directions for the national reserves system - a ... · 4.2 management plans 50 4.3 key management...

DIRECTIONS FOR THE NATIONAL RESERVE SYSTEM – A PARTNERSHIP APPROACH

Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council

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D I R E C T I O N S F O R T H E N AT I O N A L R E S E R V E S Y S T E M

Directions for the National Reserve System – A Partnership Approach.

Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council

© Commonwealth of Australia (2005)

ISBN: 0642551367

This report was issued under the authority of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC)

For bibliographic purposes this report may be cited as: Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (2004), Directions for the National Reserve System – A Partnership Approach, Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra, ACT

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Government, available from the Department of the Environment Heritage. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to:

National Reserve System Taskforce c/o National Reserve System Section Parks Australia South Branch Department of the Environment and Heritage GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601

The Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Heritage, has collated and edited this publication for the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Australian Government and members of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (or the governments which council members represent) do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contexts, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication.

This report is available at: http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/index.html

Design: Big Island Graphics, Canberra

Cover photo credits:

Grass Trees of Mount Coryah, Mt Kaputar National Park. Photographer: John Baker. Copyright DEH.

Lake Placid, Barron Gorge National Park. Photographer: John Baker. Copyright DEH.

River Red Gum, Flinders Ranges National Park. Photographer: John Baker. Copyright DEH.

http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/index.html

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A P A R T N E R S H I P A P P R O A C H

CONTENTSAcronyms 4

Foreword 6

Executive Summary 7

1.0 Understanding the National Reserve System 13

1.1 What is the National Reserve System? 13

1.2 International & national context 13

1.3 The protected area system in Australia 14

1.4 Planning context 19

1.5 History of the protected area system 22

1.6 Benefits of protected areas 22

1.7 Issues in the development of the NRS 23

2.0 Reserve System Planning and Design 24

2.1 Key principles 24

2.2 The bioregional reservation framework 27

2.3 Biodiversity targets for the NRS CAR reserve system 29

2.4 Monitoring progress of NRS development 34

3.0 Establishment Of Protected Areas 35

3.1 Standards for inclusion in the NRS 35

3.2 Mechanisms for protected area establishment 38

3.3 Management accreditation 48

3.4 Monitoring reserve establishment 48

4.0 Management Of Protected Areas 50

4.1 Management principles 50

4.2 Management plans 50

4.3 Key management issues 51

4.4 Co-operative management with Indigenous communities 53

4.5 Legislative mechanisms for private protected area management 53

4.6 Monitoring management effectiveness 54

4.7 Best practice management program 55

5.0 Progressing the NRS 56

5.1 Funding arrangements 56

5.2 Core data sets 56

5.3 Community awareness and involvement 56

5.4 Roles and responsibilities 57

Glossary 58

References 60

Appendix 1 62

Tables

Table 1. Directions To Progress The Comprehensive, Adequate And Representative System Of Reserves 8

Table 2. Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database 2004 16

Table 3. IUCN Protected Area Categories 36

Figures

Figure 1. Protected Areas in Australia 15

Figure 2. Conceptual relationship of NRS to other protected areas and other lands 21

Figure 3. Reservation levels for each IBRA region 28

Figure 4. Overall IBRA priorities arising from the assessment 28

Figure 5. Conservation levels according to ecosystem classification levels in the Kanmantoo IBRA Region 30

Figure 6. The location of components in the Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network (as of January 2002) 46

ACRONYMS

AAS Australian Academy of Science

ANZECC Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council

BDAC Biological Diversity Advisory Committee (under the EPBC Act)

CA Conservation Agreement

CAPAD Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database

CAR Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative

CRA Comprehensive Regional Assessment

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

DEH Department of the Environment and Heritage

EPBC Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

ESCAVI Executive Steering Committee for Australian Vegetation Information

GIS Geographical Information System

IBP International Biological Programme (precursor to IUCN)

IBRA Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia

IPA Indigenous Protected Area

IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature (now World Conservation Union)

JANIS Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub- Committee

MAB Man and the Biosphere (Programme)

MCFFA Ministerial Council on Forestry, Fisheries and Aquaculture

NFPS National Forest Policy Statement

NGO Non-government organisation

NHT Natural Heritage Trust

NLWRA National Land and Water Resources Audit

NRMMC Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council

NRS National Reserve System

NRSMPA National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas

NRSP National Reserve System Program

NSCABD National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity

NVIA National Vegetation Information and Analysis

NVIS National Vegetation Information System

NWI National Wilderness Inventory

PA Protected Area

PAPL Protected Area on Private Land

PPA Private Protected Area

RFA Regional Forest Agreement

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

WCU World Conservation Union (IUCN)


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THIS DOCUMENT IS BASED ON WORK BY THE NATIONAL RESERVE SYSTEM TASKFORCE OF THE NRMMC LAND, WATER AND BIODIVERSITY COMMITTEE

• Peter Bosworth (Chair) Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Tasmania (DPIWE)

• Chris Ashe/Joan Phillips Department of Sustainability & Environment, Victoria (DSE)

• Norm McKenzie Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia (CLM)

• Peter Alexander/Tim Bond National Parks & Wildlife, South Australia (NPW)

• Fiona Leverington/Tim Ellis Parks & Wildlife Service, Queensland (PWS)

• Rob Dick Department of Environment and Conservation, New South Wales (DEC)

• Steve Szabo/Bruce Rose Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra (DEH)

• David Forsyth Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra (DEH)

• Mike Butler Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, Northern Territory (DIPE)

• Bill Logan Environment ACT, Canberra (EACT)

• Michael Doherty CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra (CSE)

Photographer: John Baker. Copyright DEH

FOREWORDThe National Reserve System (NRS) represents the collective efforts of the States, Territories, the Australian Government, and non-government organisations to achieve an Australian system of protected areas as a major contribution to the conservation of our native biodiversity.

Directions for the National Reserve System – A Partnership Approach (the Directions Statement) has been prepared to assist government agencies, non-government organisations and the community in the ongoing development of the National Reserve System, and to assist stakeholders in the understanding of this process. The Directions Statement will also guide the delivery of the National Reserve System program (NRSP), an activity of the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) of Australia.

The Directions Statement was developed from work by the National Reserve System Action Plan Taskforce of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council, and formerly under the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). It builds upon the framework provided by the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (Thackway and Cresswell 1995), otherwise known as IBRA, and should be read in conjunction with that document and the Australian Guidelines for Establishing the National Reserve System endorsed by ANZECC in July 1999.

In developing this Directions Statement the Taskforce has drawn upon the approach used for the Strategic Plan of Action for the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (ANZECC 1999) to promote consistency in approach for terrestrial and marine environments as well as experience with other such plans both in Australia and overseas.

The Directions Statement outlines a strategic national approach for making quantifiable progress towards the establishment and management of a comprehensive, adequate and representative terrestrial protected area system. It provides background information to assist in the understanding of the national reserve system and the processes and actions required for its development. It is not intended to replicate or override existing government processes.


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The National Reserve System (NRS) represents the collective efforts of the States, Territories, the Commonwealth, non-government organisations and Indigenous landholders to achieve an Australian system of terrestrial protected areas as a major contribution to the conservation of our native biodiversity. It aims to contain samples of all regional ecosystems, their constituent biota and associated conservation values.

Directions for the National Reserve System presents a common approach to the strategic planning and design, establishment and management of a comprehensive, adequate and representative national reserve system for government agencies, non-government organisations and the community in the ongoing development of the National Reserve System, and assists stakeholders in the understanding of this process.

It emphasizes the critical role of partnerships between all governments, and between governments and non-government organizations in ensuring the success of the National Reserve System.

Bioregions and subregions are used as the basis for assessing gaps in the current reserve system and identifying priorities for improved representation of ecosystems. Agreed targets for ecosystem protection have been identified within this context.

The Directions Statement presents a standard approach to the establishment of protected areas, and includes an agreed set of minimum standards which protected areas must meet to be included in the National Reserve System and count towards meeting reservation targets. These include a common approach to the application of IUCN Protected Area categories and the need to ensure that all protected areas, whether public or private, are established through secure means.

A key aim in developing the National Reserve System is the on-going maintenance of values for

which the lands were protected. A set of broad management principles has been identified which embody contemporary thinking on protected area management to help achieve this aim and provides the basis for standards for protected area management.

The Directions Statement recognises that the national reserve system cannot be built solely on public lands and that there is a significant role for the private sector to play in protected area establishment and management. It also recognises the role of protected areas on indigenous lands and the importance of engaging indigenous communities in protected area planning and management.

The Directions Statement acknowledges the need to establish and manage protected areas within a landscape context on the basis that conservation objectives can best be achieved through an integrated approach at the landscape level. Involvement of the community and relations with neighbours are recognised as critical issues in the successful on-going management of protected areas.

For all stages of development of the national reserve system – planning and design, establishment and management – there are requirements for monitoring and evaluation to enable on-going assessment of progress towards achieving NRS goals.

Table 1 summarises the Directions to progress the comprehensive, adequate and representative national system of reserves.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Table 1. Directions to progress the comprehensive, adequate and representative National Reserve System

The Taskforce notes that experience in Australia to date has generally demonstrated that it is seven times more cost effective to conserve intact native ecosystems rather than attempting to re-establish them after they have been cleared or significantly degraded. The next decade will be a critical period for biodiversity conservation planning in Australia and presents significant opportunities for progressing a comprehensive, adequate and representative NRS. The challenges and opportunities to progress the NRS are not uniform across Australia, so there will be some regional variation in the timing of the application of the Directions.

DIRECTIONS Implementation Timing

Progressing comprehensiveness

1. Examples of at least 80% of the number of extant regional ecosystems in each IBRA region are to be represented in the NRS (Section 2.3.1)

All jurisdictions By 2010-2015

Progressing adequacy

2. Protected areas are selected and managed to maximise the probability of survival of their biota through:

· Including replication of sampled regional ecosystems

· Being of sufficient size and condition to ensure long-term sustainability

· Being managed within a bioregional planning context

· Optimising opportunities for species dispersal between protected areas. (Section 2.3.1)

As part of the consideration of long-term targets outlined in Direction 11, particular attention will be given to providing more measurable criteria for progressing adequacy. (Section 2.3.1)

All jurisdictions

NRS Scientific Advisory Group

By 2010

By 2005

Progressing representativeness

3. Examples of at least 80% of the number of extant regional ecosystems in each IBRA subregion are represented in the NRS by 2010-2020. (Section 2.3.1)

All jurisdictions By 2010-2020

Protecting threatened species and ecosystems

4. As a priority, critically endangered and endangered species and regional ecosystems in each IBRA region are included in the NRS by 2010. (Section 2.3.1)

All jurisdictions By 2010

5. Significant progress is made towards inclusion of vulnerable species and regional ecosystems in each IBRA region in the NRS (Section 2.3.1)


Updating biogeographic regionalisation framework

6. IBRA subregionalisation and IBRA V6 to be finalized for publication by 2005. (Section 2.3.1)

Australian Government assisted by all jurisdictions

By 2005 for IBRA V6.

On-going

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Freshwater ecosystems

7. The current understanding of freshwater biodiversity in relation to CAR to be reviewed and an agreed approach finalized, which may include future amendments to the NRS Scientific Guidelines, to ensure freshwater ecosystems are appropriately incorporated within the NRS (Section 2.3.1)

NRS Scientific Advisory Group augmented with appropriate freshwater scientists

By 2005

Assessing priorities

8. Pre-European vegetation mapping coverage at 1:250,000 scale or better to be completed to assist with planning priorities in the intensive land use zone and identification and mapping of freshwater systems at an appropriate scale is commenced (Section 2.3.1)


9. Priority IBRA regions to be reviewed for the NRS and updated regularly (Section 2.3.1)


By 2005

10. State, Territory and Australian Government NRS Implementation Plans to be developed for each priority IBRA region (Section 2.3.1)


Long-term targets

11. Natural Resource Policies and Programs Committee (NRPPC) of NRMMC to consider recommendations for long-term targets for the NRS taking into account the JANIS Reserve criteria which apply to forest ecosystems. (Section 2.3.2)


By 2005

Monitoring progress of NRS development

12. Biennial reports to be prepared on the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of ecosystems in the NRS as per the NRS Scientific Guidelines. (Section 2.4)

Australian Government with assistance from all jurisdictions

2005 and on-going

IUCN categorization

13. Protected areas will continue to be reported on by IUCN categories, in accordance with IUCN Guidelines, and identified anomalies are to be resolved for CAPAD 2004. (Section 3.1)

All jurisdictions 2004 and on-going

NRS standards

14. Mechanisms for protection and management of protected areas (both private and public) to be assessed in each jurisdiction against the NRS Standards and after consultation necessary enhancements made. (Section 3.1)

All jurisdictions By 2005 (assessment against standards)

By 2006 (undertake any necessary enhancements)

Private protected areas

15. An all Jurisdiction approach to be co-ordinated to assist capacity building for the Private Protected Areas and Indigenous Protected Areas component of the NRS. (Section 3.2)

Australian Government By 2005

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16. An annual national forum to be convened for managers (both government and non-government) of protected areas to discuss implementation of relevant directions in the Directions Statement. (Section 3.2)

Australian Government 2005, then annually

17. Covenanting and the use of revolving fund arrangements to be implemented as part of the NRS where appropriate and managers of revolving funds to be encouraged to give priority to implement NRS objectives. (Section 3.2.1)


18. As incentives will be necessary to achieve the NRS, continue to investigate and implement. (Section 3.2.2)

All jurisdictions On-going

Achieving National Reserve System standards

19. A review of current legislation to be conducted in each jurisdiction, including covenanting arrangements and legislation relevant to leasehold lands, and if necessary and feasible action taken to ensure there is a clear nexus between enabling legislation and reserve system objectives. (Section 3.2.4)


20. Processes and legislation will be examined in each jurisdiction to ensure that any proposal to excise an area from a NRS Protected Area is made subject to a process of public notification. (Section 3.2.4)


21. Model documentation including agreements and covenants will be prepared for use by intending PA managers and be accessible on the NRS website. These shall incorporate all standards referred to in section 3.2. (Section 3.2.4)

Australian Government By 2005

22. Inclusion of the relevant State/Territory will be sought as a party to each agreement establishing a Private or Indigenous Protected Area. (Section 3.2.4)

Australian Government By 2005 and on-going

Protected area mechanisms

23. Jurisdictions, and those establishing and managing protected areas, where appropriate to investigate possible collaboration/partnerships with private organizations including business in regard to establishment and management of particular protected areas. (Section 3.2.4)


Code of management

24. A national code of management should be developed to ensure protected area management is of an appropriately high standard (Section 3.3)


25. Nature conservation agencies or appropriate NGOs should encourage partnerships with private protected area managers to provide advice, assistance, and training and support as required (Section 3.3)

All jurisdictions By 2005 and on-going

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Monitoring reserve establishment

26. Protected areas in each jurisdiction, which meet NRS standards and which therefore qualify for listing in the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD), to be reported on, detailing the attributes of each protected area and its contribution to CAR. Such reports are to also include information on any NRS-qualifying Private Protected Areas to which the jurisdiction is a party, to ensure there is a comprehensive register of all qualifying protected areas for each jurisdiction. The Australian Government will continue compiling CAPAD. (Section 3.4)

All jurisdictions For 2004 CAPAD Report and on-going

Public funding accountability

27. Protected Area managers to maintain public reporting processes and observe public accountability standards. (Section 3.4)


Management of protected areas

28. Management plans, or where this is not possible, statements of management intent, to be in place for all existing NRS Reserves and for any new reserves within 3 years of establishment unless Native Title Act considerations preclude this. (Section 4.2)


29. Interim management guidelines to be in place within 9 months of acquisition of protected areas under the NRS program. (Section 4.2)

All jurisdictions Within 9 months of NRSP property acquisition

30. Protected areas to be managed in accordance with fire management plans which take into account the purpose of reservation and management objectives for the protected area and take into account issues such as public safety, the ecological role of fire, landscape effects of fire, indigenous use of fire, and asset protection. (Section 4.3)


31. Principles for key management issues to be developed based on best practice standards for protected area management. (Section 4.3)


Involvement of indigenous communities

32. A process for engagement of indigenous communities in protected area management to be in place in each jurisdiction. (Section 4.4)


Legislative mechanisms for PPA management

33. The potential for the application of relevant laws to be investigated to assist in the protection of values on Indigenous Protected Areas and Private Protected Areas in each jurisdiction. (Section 4.5)


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Management effectiveness

34. A reporting system, such as State of the Parks report, which identifies programs to monitor management effectiveness and progress towards achieving protected area objectives, to be in place in each jurisdiction. (Section 4.6)


Best practice management

35. An assessment against ANZECC best practice standards to be undertaken in each jurisdiction as part of the regular State of the Parks reporting. (Section 4.7)


Funding arrangements

36. A joint partnership approach to be maintained for funding NRS acquisitions and new partnerships to be considered where appropriate. Governments to consider sources and quantum of funding for the NRS. (Section 5.1)


Core data sets

37. A work program to be developed for the identification, acquisition and maintenance of core data sets required for the NRS. (Section 5.2)


By 2005 and on-going

Community awareness and involvement

38. A communication strategy to be prepared to increase awareness and understanding of the objectives and achievements of the National Reserve System (Section 5.3.1)


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1.0 UNDERSTANDING THE NATIONAL RESERVE SYSTEM

1.1 WHAT IS THE NATIONAL RESERVE SYSTEM?

The National Reserve System (NRS) represents the collective efforts of the States, Territories, the Australian Government, non-government organisations and Indigenous landholders to achieve an Australian system of terrestrial protected areas as a major contribution to the conservation of our native biodiversity. It aims to contain samples of all regional ecosystems, their constituent biota and associated conservation values.

Protected areas are those systems of National Parks and other types of conservation areas dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and formally managed and protected for this purpose. The protected area system is an important tool for assisting with the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity within the broader context of integrated landscape management. Protected areas also provide significant other roles, notably in providing ecosystem services and nature-based recreation and tourism opportunities.

The foundations of the National Reserve System are the strong partnerships between the Australian Government and the various State/Territory Governments. This is reflected in the shared vision presented in this Directions Statement and the commitment to future collaboration and sharing of information and resources. Building upon that foundation, the success of the NRS is also dependent upon other key partnerships between the various levels of government, community groups and NGO’s, including indigenous bodies.

1.2 INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL CONTEXT

Australia is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which requests countries to: establish a system of protected areas to conserve biodiversity; develop guidelines for the selection, establishment and management of

protected areas; and promote the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the maintenance of viable populations of species. The central role of protected areas in implementing the objectives of the convention has been repeatedly emphasized in decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. The target to achieve ‘a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity’ by the year 2010 was agreed by the 6th Conference of the Parties to the CBD in 2002, and endorsed by the world’s leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) later that year.

The Conference of the Parties to the CBD at its seventh meeting in 2004 agreed on a work program for protected areas which included approaches to ensuring the effective on-going development of comprehensive, adequate and representative protected area systems to meet the above goals. The work programme took account of the recommendations arising from the Vth World Parks Congress held in Durban, South Africa, in 2003.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has developed an international system for the classification of protected areas – the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories, which provide for the full range of protected areas from strict nature conservation to multi-use reserves, and outline the way in which sites in each class should be managed.

At the national level the goal of a “Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative System of Reserves” for Australia is endorsed by the Australian Government, State and Territory Governments, as signatories to the National Strategy for Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity (Commonwealth of Australian 1996) and the National Forest Policy Statement (Commonwealth of Australia 1992).

The goal of a ‘comprehensive, adequate and representative system’ comes from the recognition

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of the need to incorporate significant examples of the full range of ecosystems across the continent. Comprehensive refers to the inclusion within protected areas of samples of the ecosystems discernible at a regional scale. Adequate refers to how much of each ecosystem should be included within a protected area network in order to provide ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities. Representative is comprehensiveness considered at a finer scale, and infers that the variability within ecosystems is sampled within the reserve system (ANZECC 1999b).

Successive Governments have supported three processes to work towards a comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) system of protected areas - the National Reserve System (NRS), the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process and the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA).

• The NRS focuses on ensuring rapid and significant improvements in the terrestrial reserve system. Its main priority addresses the key gaps in comprehensiveness at the national scale, using the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) as its regional planning framework. The NRS covers terrestrial ecosystems other than those considered under the RFA process. It seeks, particularly, to add poorly reserved environments to the national reserve system.

• The RFA process is focused on specific forest and woodland ecosystems in specific forested regions and addresses the issue of comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness at the regional scale. RFAs are integrated strategies for establishing forest reserves and ecologically sustainable forest management that aims to achieve resource security for resource utilisation industries.

• The NRSMPA is being developed cooperatively by Australian Government, State and Northern Territory agencies responsible for the conservation, protection and management of marine environments.

1.3 THE PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA

In Australia there are nine Protected Area systems, one in each of the six States and two self governing Territories, and an Australian Government system. Collectively they are known as the National Reserve System (NRS), while the eight separate marine protected area systems in each of the jurisdictions are collectively known as the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). Each piece of enabling legislation for protected areas makes provision for a range of protected areas with varying management objectives. There are over 50 types of crown reserves in Australia, from strict nature reserves and wilderness parks to forest and even game reserves. Management objectives for all types of reserves are required to meet the IUCN definition of a protected area to be considered part of the NRS, and all protected area categories across each jurisdiction have notionally been assigned to one of the IUCN protected area categories.

In addition a number of protected areas have been established on indigenous-owned lands, and a number of private protected reserves have been established under a range of covenanting programs. It is recognized that in order to meet the objectives of the NRS, private landholder involvement through the establishment and management of private protected areas is an essential component of the program.

Together all protected areas make up just over 10% of the Australian land mass. (See Figure 1). Spatial data on Australia’s protected area estate is held in the Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD). Table 2 lists the Protected Area categories by jurisdiction (source: CAPAD 2004).

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Figure 1: Protected Areas in Australia

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Designation - Protected Area Type Number Area (ha) Jurisdiction % Australia

Botanic Gardens (Commonwealth) 2 152 ACT, NSW 0.00

Coastal Reserve 2 13,660 NT 0.00

Conservation Area 178 551,445 TAS 0.07

Conservation Covenant 174 21,603 TAS 0.00

Conservation Park 419 6,753,473 QLD, SA, WA 0.88

Conservation Reserve 65 302,627 NT, SA 0.04

Forest Reserve 404 1,335,946 QLD, SA, TAS 0.17

Game Reserve 22 45,312 SA, TAS 0.01

Heritage Agreement 1203 567,173 SA 0.07

Heritage River 15 138,732 VIC 0.02

Historic Site 1 15,300 TAS 0.00

Historical Reserve 3 7,841 NT 0.00

Hunting Reserve 1 1,605 NT 0.00

Karst Conservation Reserve 4 4,408 NSW 0.00

Management Agreement Area 5 26,249 NT 0.00

Miscellaneous Conservation Reserve 76 300,131 WA 0.04

National Park 544 28,718,187 All 3.74

National Park (Aboriginal) 4 575,814 NT 0.07

National Park (Commonwealth) 3 2,119,278 NSW, NT 0.28

National Park (Scientific) 7 52,181 QLD 0.01

Natural Catchment Area 5 8,170 VIC 0.00

Natural Features And Scenic Reserve 26 24,868 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve 33 448 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - Bushland Reserve 1471 45,762 VIC 0.01

Natural Features Reserve - Cave Reserve 7 378 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - Geological Reserve 15 464 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - Gippsland Lakes Reserve 34 6,714 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - River Murray Reserve 1 20,883 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - Scenic Reserve 58 9,646 VIC 0.00

Natural Features Reserve - Streamside Reserve 258 6,489 VIC 0.00

Table 2

Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database 2004. Summary of Terrestrial Protected Areas in Australia by Type

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Natural Features Reserve - Wildlife Reserve (Hunting)

208 75,252 VIC 0.01

Nature Conservation Reserve 160 71,221 VIC 0.01

Nature Conservation Reserve - Flora And Fauna Reserve

89 126,993 VIC 0.02

Nature Conservation Reserve - Flora Reserve 133 22,876 VIC 0.00

Nature Conservation Reserve - Wildlife Reserve (No Hunting)

77 14,179 VIC 0.00

Nature Park 12 25,585 NT, VIC 0.00

Nature Park (Aboriginal) 1 3,108 NT 0.00

Nature Recreation Area 22 64,682 TAS 0.01

Nature Reserve 1603 11,718,288 ACT, NSW, TAS, WA

1.52

Other Conservation Area 19 245,200 NSW, NT, TAS 0.03

Other Conservation Area (Commonwealth) 1 92,600 SA 0.01

Other Park 9 57,128 VIC 0.01

Other Private Protected Area 31 898,183 NSW, NT, QLD, TAS, VIC, WA

0.12

Private Nature Reserve 5 1,091 TAS 0.00

Protected Area 3 12,125 NT 0.00

Recreation Park 13 3,152 SA 0.00

Reference Area 31 18,948 VIC 0.00

Regional Reserve 28 10,830,357 SA, TAS 1.41

Remote And Natural Area 2 22,410 VIC 0.00

Resources Reserve 36 347,858 QLD 0.05

State Conservation Area 78 268,037 NSW 0.03

State Park 30 185,160 VIC 0.02

State Reserve 62 44,495 TAS 0.01

Wilderness Park 3 202,050 VIC 0.03

Wilderness Protection Area 5 70,069 SA 0.01

Total 7,701 67,095,985 8.73

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Indigenous Protected Area 19 13,799,114 NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA

1.79

Total Terrestrial Protected Areas 7,720 80,895,099 10.52

Additional Types (recorded within protected areas above)

Heritage River 16 133,086 VIC 0.02

Natural Catchment Area 19 104,950 VIC 0.01

Reference Area 111 92,520 VIC 0.01

Remote and Natural Area 23 279,186 VIC 0.04

Wilderness Zone 19 640,000 VIC 0.08

0.00

Total 188 1,249,742 0.16

Total land area of Australia 768,826,956

% Land Protected on the Australian mainland (including Tasmania)

10.52

Source: CAPAD 2004

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1.4 PLANNING CONTEXTThe physical and biological diversity of the Australian landscape, coupled with its social and cultural history, has created a diverse pattern of land use and land ownership across the continent. Each of these patterns places different challenges for biodiversity conservation planning, including reserve system development. They include:

• Major cities and towns and adjoining hinterlands which may contain important areas of remnant terrestrial vegetation, as well as aquatic and marine ecosystems;

• Readily-accessible regions such as coastal and rural areas near major cities often impacted by recreation, accommodation and tourist developments;

• Major production forest areas on both Crown and private lands;

• The major agricultural regions, such as the Murray-Darling Basin, Fitzroy Basin and South West Western Australia;

• Regions dominated by Crown reserves such as national parks, water catchment reserves, etc or Commonwealth lands such as Defence lands and airports;

• Rangelands – principally in the extensive arid and semi arid land use zone, but also in some parts of the major agricultural regions;

• Aboriginal lands; and

• Off-shore continental and oceanic islands.

The nature of these landscapes relates directly to the biogeographic and climatic characteristics of the region, and to historical settlement patterns. Determining the diversity, status and resilience of native ecosystems and associated biota in each of these landscapes, and measures required for their long-term protection, is the essence of biodiversity conservation planning.

Within this context, this Directions Statement has been developed recognising that the setting aside and managing of areas in a National Reserve System will not, of itself, ensure that all biodiversity

conservation objectives are met. Rather, two basic approaches are recognised both nationally and internationally as central to achieving effective biodiversity conservation across landscapes. These approaches are:

1. the establishment and management of a secure Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative protected area system; and

2. the ecologically sustainable management of natural resources across the broader landscape for areas that are not part of the protected area system.

Biodiversity conservation objectives are best planned and delivered through the development of conservation strategies that integrate these two approaches across whole regions, catchments or landscapes. To this end the Directions Statement has been developed to enable the NRS to be part of integrated natural resource planning and management programs operating across landscapes.

The overriding objective of a national approach to planning and development of a reserve system is to increase the effectiveness of in situ biodiversity conservation. Retention and adequate protection of vegetation communities in a manner that ensures natural movement of species, gene flow between populations, and maintenance of ecological processes is the most effective way of ensuring biodiversity is retained in situ. The protection of physical native vegetation linkages across the landscape between key protected areas is vital in order to maximize the resilience of the protected area network. A combination of protected areas and complementary land management practices operating across the landscape will enable this to occur. A schematic presentation of how various conservation endeavors may be applied in partnership across the landscape is shown in Figure 2.

In recent years, climate change has emerged as a key issue in biodiversity management and planning, though uncertainty still remains about the exact nature and magnitude of future climate change. As such, a landscape approach as described above, particularly linkages that maintain large

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contiguous habitats or that enable maintenance of ecological processes, especially those across a range of environmental gradients, provide the optimal approach for species and ecological processes to respond to any changing conditions. Future identification and selection and management of protected areas should be informed by scientific understanding of likely implications of future climate change, as identified in the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan 2004-2007 (NRMMC 2004).

Contribution of conservation reserves outside the NRS

The NRS is a collective group of protected areas for which their means of establishment, management and security of status have been judged as being at the highest levels of long-term security and accountability.

Accordingly, many conservation areas throughout Australia, for one reason or another, do not meet the criteria set out in this Directions Statement for their inclusion in the National Reserve System. For example, some areas may lack the long-term security of tenure, others may lack a long-term effective management framework. Often, conservation management may be undertaken in areas managed primarily for other purposes, such as forestry.

Exclusion from the National Reserve System on such grounds should not carry with it any implied denigration of their contribution to the achievement of broader conservation goals. Such areas, whilst having less long-term security, nevertheless play a substantial contribution to the collective conservation effort and, taken together with the NRS and other conservation measures applied across the various land tenures, play a vital role in the total of Australia’s conservation endeavour.

Other mechanisms which play this vital complementary role in partnership with the NRS include:

• specific programs for the conservation of biota (including particular species and ecosystems);

• regulation and management of resource use;

• promotion and planning to achieve ecologically sustainable use;

• natural resource management strategies;

• catchment plans;

• regional and local government plans;

• natural resource management planning

• management of pollution;

• management of the impacts of development on the environment;

• other managed terrestrial areas operating at a range of scales for a range of purposes.

Even where these other protected areas conserve ecosystems or habitats already included in the NRS, such replication is highly valued as a means of additional insurance against species or habitat loss. In some areas also, additional areas managed for the conservation of biodiversity contribute to the establishment of wildlife corridors and provide vital links between key habitats for mobile species. For example, in the Top End of the Northern Territory, tiny monsoon rainforest reserves on both private and public land have been shown to be vital for the survival of a variety of fruit-eating bird species.

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Figure 2: Conceptual map showing a range of conservation initiatives

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1.5 HISTORY OF THE PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM

The concept of protected areas in Australia dates back to the first Australians, the Aboriginal people, to occupy this continent (Worboys et al 2001). In the second half of the nineteenth century, the first non-indigenous concerns about conserving Australia’s natural resources were raised (Worboys et al 2001). In Australia the first colony to legislate to protect fauna was Tasmania. In 1860 it passed laws that protected various game species during their breeding season. In 1866 Jenolan Caves in NSW was declared a water reserve. In 1871 a sizeable area of bushland in Perth WA, ‘Kings Park’ was reserved. The United States declared Yellowstone, the world’s first modern national park in 1872. The idea of national parks then spread to Australia with the dedication of what is now Royal National Park south of Sydney in 1879. Since that time, the States and Territories have been slowly but surely expanding their protected area systems and affording greater protection to Australia’s rich biodiversity through a variety of formal means.

The concept of a national reserve system took much longer to evolve and can be traced back to work undertaken by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) in the late 1960s. A report by AAS (1968) summarised National Parks and Reserves in Australia and a further report by AAS (1969) proposed a biological survey of Australia. However, it was not until Specht, Roe and Boughton (1974) undertook an evaluation of the conservation status of major plant communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea as part of Australia’s commitment to the International Biological Program (IBP) under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), that real interest in a national system of ecological reserves gained momentum.

All of this initial work resulted in a symposium held in Canberra in 1974 on a national system of ecological reserves in Australia (Fenner 1975). Here the concepts that would eventually be

translated into the Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve criteria used during Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) processes in the late 1990s were initially developed.

1.6 BENEFITS OF PROTECTED AREAS

As well as helping to conserve biodiversity and contributing substantially to ecological sustainability, protected areas also make significant contributions to local, regional and national economies and the well-being of society. These contributions have been the subject of a range of international, Australian, regional and local studies.

Direct and indirect benefits

In looking at the costs and benefits of establishing and maintaining protected areas, the focus is often on the direct values of the area, such as the net economic benefits of having the protected area compared with the net economic benefits of alternative uses such as timber production (Worboys 2001). A number of assessments have also been undertaken on the contribution established protected areas make to regional economies, notably through recreational and tourism opportunities. A Queensland study (Driml 1997) estimates that there are 12.5 million visits to National Parks each year in that State, resulting in spending of more than $1.2 billion, which supports more than 6,000 jobs directly, and an estimated 15,000 jobs indirectly. The study also estimates that for every $1 of government funding invested in Protected Area management, more than $40 worth of economic activity is generated in the Queensland economy. An assessment of the contribution of Sturt National Park, Kinchega National Park and Mutawintji National Park to regional economic development in western New South Wales found that the three parks generated $9.6 million per year (NSW NPWS 2001). An estimated contribution of the Tasmanian Parks system of $140 million to the Tasmanian economy was given for 1998-99 (Madden et al 2000).

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Non-use values

Protected areas also provide a suite of benefits, known as non-use values, which are often more difficult to measure. These include the satisfaction people gain from the knowledge that biodiversity and wild and aesthetic places (which many people may never get to see or indeed wish to see in the wild) are adequately protected and managed, and the knowledge that others will benefit in future from the protected area. Non-use values also include provisions of ecological services such as clean air, water-shed protection, and climatic stability.

A range of studies indicates that the importance of these benefits should not be under-estimated and that the non-use values of protected areas may be around three times the magnitude of the direct values.

1.7 ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NRS

Issues arising out of State, Territory and Australian Government and non-government organisation attempts to develop and implement a National Reserve System, and the 1999 Mid-term review of the NRS Program, revolve around five main areas:

(a) the lack of clear, agreed and measurable national targets for the NRS;

(b) the lack of clear and agreed national guidelines as to what types of protected areas comprise the NRS;

(c) the patchy and incomplete nature of the ecosystem-scale map coverage for Australia required to implement the NRS

(d) the lack of an agreed national plan of action for the NRS;

(e) funding for acquisition and management.

Other issues include the fact that the concept of the NRS is not well known, understood and embraced by the public. Greater community understanding is needed of these issues and the benefits of the conservation of the variety of ecosystems through a system of protected areas.

An emerging issue is the need to better understand and incorporate freshwater values within the NRS. Further discussion is required to establish what comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness means for freshwater systems. Focus to date has been on vegetation mapping and identification of vegetated regional ecosystems. Additional work is likely to be required to adequately describe and map the full range of freshwater ecosystems at an appropriate scale. Further discussion is also required on appropriate criteria for freshwater systems, and appropriate protection mechanisms, particularly those that are multi-tenure.

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The Convention on Biological Diversity and the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity (Commonwealth of Australia 1996) consider biodiversity at three levels; genetic, species and ecosystem. While there is considerable information on the spatial patterning of biodiversity at the ecosystem and species levels this information is inconsistent in its resolution and is by no means complete in its coverage. The information on genetic variation is fragmentary.

For this reason, systematic planning of the reserve system relies on maps of the landscape which can serve as surrogates of all these levels of biodiversity. Such maps reflect the known and unknown elements of biodiversity which are supported within each mapped unit. Surrogate mapping that is used for this includes soil landscapes, land systems, or vegetation communities, or combinations of these with climate, aspect or terrain.

Any systematic approach to planning the NRS needs to use the best available surrogates which best reflect the distribution of biodiversity in the landscape, to clearly identify reservation targets, to set priorities to meet those targets and then to monitor efficiency and progress in building a CAR reserve system for Australia.

The priority for reservation of a species or ecosystem is usually assessed in terms of how effectively existing reserves might sample and protect the species or ecosystem, the extent to which it has declined from its initial geographic range and the degree of threat that it may be subjected to from processes such as clearing, erosion, pollution, salinity or other degradation.

In developing a national system of protected areas for Australia, it was agreed that a national classification of ecosystems was required as a framework to develop a truly national system of protected areas which represented the diversity of major ecosystems in Australia and captured the full range of biodiversity (Thackway 1989).

Environmental or biogeograhical regionalisations provide a framework to identify gaps in the protected area system, help to summarise patterns, aggregate information and assist in the allocation of resources and priorities in nature conservation (Thackway and Cresswell 1995). They provide a framework that allows for all land tenures within a region to be managed in a complementary way to achieve long-term nature conservation objectives.

As such, the goal to establish a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of protected areas to contribute to the conservation of Australia’s native biodiversity the NRS will:

• aim to contain samples of all ecosystems identified at an appropriate regional scale;

• aim to contain areas which are refugia or centres of species richness or endemicity;

• consider the ecological requirements of rare or threatened species and rare or threatened ecological communities and ecosystems, in particular those listed in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and other State, Territory and local government legislation or policy instruments; and

• take account of special groups of organisms, e.g. species with specialised habitat requirements or wide - ranging or migratory species, or species vulnerable to threatening processes that may depend on reservation for their conservation.

2.1 KEY PRINCIPLESThe following principles have been developed to provide a strategic approach to meet this goal.

Regional Framework: The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) provides the national and regional planning framework for developing the NRS. Further investigation is needed regarding the incorporation of freshwater ecosystems within the IBRA framework.

2.0 RESERVE SYSTEM PLANNING AND DESIGN

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Case Study: Gascoyne-Murchison Strategy

The Gascoyne-Murchison Strategy (GMS) in Western Australia demonstrates a recent development in strategic

broad scale planning for protected area establishment. The 57 million hectare Gascoyne-Murchison Strategy

area covers most of the Carnarvon, Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert, Murchison and Yalgoo IBRA regions. The

Strategy was developed to address the environmental, economic and social needs of this rangelands area. A key

measure to help address maintenance of biodiversity values was the development of a comprehensive, adequate

and representative conservation reserve system. At the outset, it was estimated that about 15% of the Gascoyne-

Murchison Strategy area would need to be included in conservation reserves.

When the GMS was announced in 1998, approximately one million hectares, or 2% of the Strategy area, was

within conservation reserves. The Strategy area covers some of the most arid land in Western Australia but is

known to have high biological diversity. A survey of the Southern Carnarvon Basin, for example, recorded 144

species of indigenous reptiles, 500 species of aquatic invertebrates and more than 2,000 vascular plant species

in an area covering only 15 percent of the GMS area. A concerted effort to identify gaps in representation of

ecosystems of the region’s protected areas subsequently led to the strategic purchase of nearly 4 million hectares

of pastoral leasehold properties. Purchase of

these properties was jointly funded by the State

and Australian Governments.

Identification of land for acquisition was based

in part on vegetation mapping at the scale of

1:250,000 and compiled into a GIS database. At

the beginning of the GMS, of the 259 vegetation

associations in the GMS area, 74 (28.6%) were

protected within the existing conservation

reserve system. However, of these only 19

(7.3%) had more than 10% of their area within

the conservation reserve system. That is 92.7%

of the vegetation types occurring within the

region were either not represented at all or were

under represented. The focus for the acquisition program was, therefore, on the vegetation associations that

were completely unrepresented, and those that were poorly represented. As each new lease was acquired, the

database was updated with data on the area of each of its vegetation associations. This minimised the potential

for duplication and ensured that as many vegetation types as possible in the strategy area have at least some

level of representation within the conservation reserve system. Other information used for planning the protected

area system included land system mapping, geological mapping, topographical mapping and information on

threatened species and communities.

By November 2004, about 5 million hectares, or 8.8 % of the GMS area was within conservation reserves or had

been purchased for reservation as part of the formal conservation reserve system in Western Australia. This has

resulted in an additional 74 vegetation types within the reserve system, bringing the total to 148 or 57.1% of all

vegetation types in the region of which 83 (32%) have more than 10% of their area represented.

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Comprehensiveness: The National Reserve System will aim to include the full range of regional ecosystems recognised at an appropriate scale within and across each IBRA region. Increasing the comprehensiveness of the national protected area system, particularly in those IBRA regions where biodiversity is poorly conserved in the protected area system, is the primary focus of the NRS.

Adequacy: The NRS will aim to provide reservation of each ecosystem to the level necessary to provide ecological viability, resilience and integrity.

Representativeness: Areas selected for inclusion in the NRS should reasonably reflect the intrinsic variability of the ecosystems they represent. One way of achieving this is to aim to represent each regional ecosystem within each IBRA subregion.

Ecosystems/Regional Ecosystems: Ecosystem surrogates, such as vegetation units, together with environmental information mapped at appropriate scales (regional ecosystems) and species information should be the primary planning information which informs NRS planning.

Threat: While the focus of the NRS will be on increasing comprehensiveness, the selection of priority additions to the NRS will also be based on principles of viability and vulnerability to loss. Priority will be given to the addition to the protected area system of ecosystems where there is a high risk of loss which may foreclose future options for the conservation of biodiversity within the region.

Precautionary Principle: The absence of scientific certainty is not a reason to postpone measures to establish protected areas that contribute to a comprehensive, adequate and representative national reserve system.

Landscape Context: The protected area system should maximise biodiversity conservation outcomes through the application of scientifically robust protected area/conservation design principles.

Highly Protected Areas: The NRS will aim to have some highly protected areas (IUCN Categories I and II) in each IBRA region.

All appropriate protection measures should be used in regional conservation planning: It is recognised that regional biodiversity conservation requires a mix of management strategies. These would include statutory protected areas and incentives that encourage voluntary partnerships for off-reserve conservation. Public and private protected areas would include covenanting arrangements, as well as conservation management measures and guidelines for ecologically sustainable land management.

Public land should be used first for delivering the NRS where possible: The CAR reserve system should, where possible, be selected from public land, recognizing that key remnants of many ecosystems exist only on private lands.

Integrated decision making: Decision making processes should effectively integrate both long-term and short-term environmental, economic, social and equity considerations.

Consultation: The process of identification and selection of the NRS will include effective and high quality public consultation with appropriate community and interest groups to address current and future social, economic and cultural issues.

Partnerships: The success of the NRS depends on effective partnerships between the Australian, State and Territory Governments, and between governments and non-government organizations, private landholders and indigenous landholders and organizations. These partnerships should continue to be built on to ensure the effective on-going development and management of the NRS.

Confidentiality: Where private land is being considered for inclusion in the NRS, negotiations will take into account the owners’ requirements for confidentiality.

Indigenous involvement: The biodiversity conservation interests of Australia’s indigenous peoples should be recognised and incorporated in decision making.

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2.2 THE BIOREGIONAL RESERVATION FRAMEWORK

The national and regional planning framework for the National Reserve System is provided by the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA), endorsed by ANZECC in 1995. IBRA provides a broad-level break up of the Australian landmass, which has now been refined to identify eighty-five biogeographic regions (Figure 1).

The IBRA regions were derived by compiling information on climate, lithology/geology, landform, vegetation, flora and fauna. This included field knowledge, resource mapping and continental data sets, and environmental reports.

In order to provide a systematic framework for identifying the deficiencies in the existing system of protected areas, three conservation attributes were addressed based on IBRA. The attributes were:

• reservation status within an IBRA region (percentage of the region reserved in four classes: <1%, 1-5%, 5-10% & >10%) (Figure 3; – CAPAD 2000)

• the comprehensiveness, or level of bias, in the region’s reserve system (five classes of comprehensiveness: nil, low, moderate, high & no reserves); and

• the level of threat to biodiversity within each bioregion (in four classes according to how the region’s ecosystems have been modified, existing land-uses, known extinctions & abundance of feral/weed species).

Based on the above information each IBRA has been given a classification in regard to its priority for the inclusion of land within the National Reserve System (Figure 4). This priority ranking serves to present a coarse level snapshot at a national scale of where reserves are needed most. It is important to point out here, however, that most bioregions, including “low priority” ones, contain particular regional ecosystems which are poorly conserved, under threat and suitable for inclusion within the NRS.

The IBRA framework was developed to apply to all terrestrial ecosystems, including freshwater. Further

effort is required to better understand and assess the application of bioregions and subregions in relation to freshwater ecosystems and the identification of reservation criteria within this context.

Improvements in scientific information base

Delineation of regional ecosystems for their application as planning surrogates, and of IBRA regions and subregions as the planning framework has progressed in most jurisdictions. NRSP priorities were originally determined in conjunction with the development of the IBRA in 1994 by Thackway and Cresswell (Thackway and Cresswell 1995).

Jurisdictions undertook an update of the IBRA framework in 2001 and the development of IBRA Version 5, which now has a better accord with the IBRA regional boundaries used by the jurisdictions for conservation planning and utilises new data to greatly improve the definition of regional boundaries in South Australia and Western Australia in particular. As part of this process, IBRA subregions were also identified across Australia (except Tasmania).

These subregions separate major geomorphic units within IBRA regions, which provide insight into the heterogeneity of the regions; most often reflected in differing land use patterns. Thus, the subregion scale is a useful framework for assessing the impacts of threatening processes as well as a pragmatic means of addressing representativeness i.e. to consider any variability in ecosystems across their range. Subregions are also likely to be more useful in setting targets and identifying priorities for freshwater systems.

Several National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA) projects have recently provided continental data sets at a consistent scale: Rangelands, Water Resources, Estuaries, Landscape Health, Vegetation and Terrestrial Biodiversity. Other sources of information such as the State of the Environment Report 2001 and projects undertaken by the Australian Greenhouse Office and State Government agencies have also provided important background material.

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Figure 3: Reservation levels for each IBRA region

Figure 4: Overall IBRA priorities arising from the assessment

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In combination with improved availability of continental data, advances in GIS technology allows a more explicit review of priorities, strongly based on quantitative analyses. Contemporary GIS also allows better validation of data, of the assumptions used in developing priorities, and rapid re-analyses as data is further enhanced.

Assessment for the NRS will undertake a series of quantitative GIS analyses with a review of outputs by NRS Scientific Advisory Group representatives from each jurisdiction and the NRS Directions Statement Taskforce. The NLWRA terrestrial biodiversity assessment has provided a finer scale assessment of both bioregional and subregional priorities.

Improved planning tools

Significant progress has been made with developing procedures that use GIS information to plan and prioritise additions to the protected area system in jurisdictions and nationally. Examples include EcoPlan, developed by Department of Environment and Heritage, C-Plan and Target software packages, developed by NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, respectively. They can be used to assess the status of biodiversity at a suitable regional scale and assess the priorities for developing national and regional strategies.

Other examples include the strategic approach to identifying CAR priorities for private forest reserve additions to the RFA reserve system and the regional ecosystem assessment approach in Queensland.

The Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment (NLWRA 2002) in particular has provided advice on the full range of biodiversity management options including reserve and off reserve strategies dealing with species, ecosystems and landscape recovery. Vegetation management and integrated natural resource management actions will be explored by the States and the Audit in undertaking these assessments.

Natural resource management (NRM) planning

Although actual land purchases under the NRS activity of the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) Phase 2 will occur with priorities established at a State/Territory and national level, there are opportunities to link the bioregional planning work being undertaken to complement the NRS and the regional planning and delivery of the NHT. Some regional catchment management groups developing NRM plans have recognised that regional target setting needs to be based on the status of native vegetation at a bioregional level. In particular the IBRA subregions level which are more easily related to catchment boundaries and reflect land use are considered to be an appropriate approach to determine vegetation extent for a NRM plan. However more work needs to be undertaken with State conservation agencies, DEH and catchment groups to ensure NRM plans and targets encompass the bioregional biodiversity planning work available.

2.3 BIODIVERSITY TARGETS FOR THE NRS CAR RESERVE SYSTEM

In deriving targets for the NRS, consideration has been given to the Key Principles for developing the NRS (Section 2.1) and to current world practice, particularly the Nationally Agreed Criteria for the Establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System for Forests (commonly known as the JANIS Criteria) (Commonwealth of Australia 1997b).

In Australia, the JANIS reserve criteria used in the RFA process (1996) identified 15% of the pre-1750 distribution of each forest ecosystem as the target for reservation on an IBRA regional basis but noted some flexibility is acceptable and desirable and further discussion is needed on appropriate targets for freshwater systems.

JANIS also gave priority to the needs of rare, vulnerable and endangered forest ecosystems and species and determined that the target for vulnerable ecosystems is 60% reservation of the current area. For all remaining rare and endangered forest

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Case Study – Kanmantoo IBRA Region

This case study illustrates the detailed planning required to ensure that the national reserve system is truly

comprehensive, adequate and representative, and that while some bioregions may be comparatively well

reserved, finer detailed work is required to ensure adequate representation of all constituent ecosystems.

The Kanmantoo IBRA region in South Australia is a low priority bioregion with an overall reservation level

of nearly 19%. The bioregion has two subregions – the low priority Kangaroo Island subregion with 26% of

its area in reserves, and the high priority Fleurieu subregion with only 2% of its area in reserves. However,

within the Kangaroo Island subregion, despite its relatively high reservation level, there are three environmental

associations (regional ecosystems) with less than 1% conserved - well below targets of 15% suggested by JANIS

(see Section 2.3). Therefore there are still finer adjustments to be made to the reserve system even within low

priority subregions. In this case many of the threatened and endemic plant species of Kangaroo Island occur

in this poorly represented part of Kangaroo Island. The native vegetation strategy for Kangaroo Island highlights

this area as the most important part of the island for action to protect threatened plants and ecosystems. (see

Figure 5).

Figure 5: Conservation levels according to ecosystem classification levels in the Kanmantoo IBRA Region

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ecosystems the JANIS target is 100% reservation or protection.

A rare ecosystem is one where its geographic distribution involves a total range of generally less than 10,000ha, a total area of generally less than 1,000ha or patch sizes of generally less than 100ha, where such patches do not aggregate to significant areas. These criteria should be applied in an IBRA regional context. It should be noted that rarity is a natural phenomenon that does not necessarily imply the ecosystem is under threat.

An endangered ecosystem is one where its distribution has contracted to less than 10% of its former range or the total area has contracted to less than 10% of its former area, or where 90% of its area is in small patches which are subject to threatening processes and unlikely to persist.

For rare, vulnerable and endangered species and ecosystems a range of approaches ranging from reservation to management by prescription as detailed in species and community recovery plans will be needed. Where a recovery plan for a rare and endangered species specifies the reservation in nature conservation reserves of all remaining occurrences then the NRS should attempt to include all such occurrences.

Principles adopted in setting targets for the NRS

Based on the above concepts, the following outline principles for setting targets for the NRS.

• Establishing targets based on some relativity with pre-European distribution is seen as a desirable NRS reservation objective with some flexibility being acceptable in some circumstances.

• Priority attention in planning the NRS needs to be given to rare, vulnerable and endangered communities and species.

• Ecosystem mapping at 1:100,000 or 1:250,000 scale is considered the appropriate scale for planning the NRS.

• Ecosystems need to be recognisable in the field, be mappable and able to have their pre-1750 or pre-clearing distribution modeled or mapped.

• Regional ecosystems are an important surrogate along with species information for planning the NRS.

• Biodiversity conservation objectives are best planned and delivered through the development of conservation strategies that integrate these approaches in a regional, catchment or landscape context.

• IBRA regions and subregions as outlined in IBRA V5, and subsequent updates, are the best planning framework for the NRS.

2.3.1 Short-Term targets

Meaningful and practical targets for the NRS are those that could be delivered within a decade.

Comprehensiveness

The highest priority needs to be given to progressing reserve system comprehensiveness. This will be measured by the representation within the NRS of examples of recognised regional ecosystems in each IBRA region in which they occur. Whilst 100% inclusion of examples would be desirable, this might not be achievable for some ecosystems. For this reason an 80% minimum target has been chosen.

DIRECTION 1: Examples of at least 80% of the number of extant regional ecosystems in each IBRA region are to be represented in the NRS by 2010-2015.

Implementation: All jurisdictions by 2010-2015

Adequacy

Adequacy requires the NRS to ensure reservation of each ecosystem to the level necessary to provide ecological viability and integrity. To assess adequacy, the role protected areas play in biodiversity conservation at the landscape scale needs to be taken into account. Key concepts in assessing adequacy include gaps in the protection of key biodiversity conservation values in existing reserves and the range of on and off reserve measures required to ensure appropriate protection of the full range of ecosystems; measures needed to maintain or

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improve ecosystem function and biodiversity at the landscape scale, and factors such as fragmentation, or extent of threatening processes that may affect the implementation of effective management for reserves. An adequate reserve system within this context will also assist ecosystems and species respond to future environmental changes, such as climate change.

If the 80% minimum target for comprehensiveness is achieved with the inclusion of areas that meet the adequacy principles outlined below then significant gains will be made in delivering the NRS. It is recognised that achievement of this target will depend on significantly increased NRS funding (see Section 5.2).

It is acknowledged that as well as the adequacy principles outlined below, more measurable criteria for the assessment of adequacy are necessary to assist with the planning, development and monitoring of the CAR reserve system.

DIRECTION 2: Adequacy principles such as those outlined below are met by 2010.

Protected areas are selected and managed to maximise the probability of survival of their biota through:

• including replication of sampled regional ecosystems;

• being of sufficient size and condition to ensure long term sustainability;

• being managed within a bioregional planning context; and

• optimising opportunities for species dispersal between protected areas.

Implementation: All jurisdictions by 2010

As part of the consideration of long term targets outlined in Direction 11, particular attention will be given to providing more measurable criteria for progressing adequacy.

Implementation: NRS Scientific Advisory Group by 2005

Representativeness

A first approximation of representativeness (and to some extent adequacy) can be assessed by the inclusion of enough examples of all regional ecosystems in each IBRA subregion in which they occur. Again, a 100% target would be desirable but this might not be possible for all regional ecosystems. For this reason an 80% target has been chosen for this criterion. While it is recognized that ecosystem representativeness at the subregional level is not the sole measure of representativeness, currently it is the best means to measure to report on at the national scale.

DIRECTION 3: Examples of at least 80% of the number of extant regional ecosystems in each IBRA subregion are represented in the NRS by 2010-2020.

Implementation: All jurisdictions by 2010-2020

Endangered and vulnerable species and ecosystems

A key goal of developing a comprehensive, adequate and representative NRS is to ensure that planning and establishment of protected areas takes account of the ecological requirements of species and communities of concern, including those listed under Commonwealth or State legislation.

DIRECTION 4: As a priority, critically endangered and endangered species and regional ecosystems in each IBRA region are included in the NRS by 2010.


DIRECTION 5: Significant progress is made towards inclusion of vulnerable species and vulnerable regional ecosystems in each IBRA region in the NRS by 2010.


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Identifying gaps in the NRS

Best scientific practice is to be used to define gaps in the NRS and select appropriate areas of land for reservation. Regular iterative reviews are required to redefine gaps as lands are added to the system

This requires:

• Review and refinement of IBRA as follows:

DIRECTION 6: IBRA subregionalisation and IBRA V6 to be finalized for publication by 2005.

Implementation: Australian Government assisted by all jurisdictions by 2005 for IBRA V6, then ongoing.

• In regard to progressing the NRS and freshwater biodiversity:

DIRECTION 7: The current understanding of freshwater biodiversity in relation to CAR to be reviewed and an agreed approach finalized, which may include future amendments to the NRS Scientific Guidelines, to ensure freshwater ecosystems are appropriately incorporated within the NRS.

Implementation: NRS Scientific Advisory Group augmented with appropriate freshwater scientists by 2005.

• Provision of refined ecosystem mapping at the national level, building on regional mapping. Of particular significance is mapping to assist with planning priorities so that ecosystems reduced to <30% and <10% of their original areas can be identified.

DIRECTION 8: Pre-European vegetation mapping coverage at 1:250,000 scale or better to be completed to assist with planning priorities in the intensive land use zone and identification and mapping of freshwater systems to be commenced at an appropriate scale.


• Identification and mapping of ecosystems within regions, reporting of comprehensiveness against State targets in annual reports, and promoting consistency of ecosystem classifications between regions;

• Review of NRS priorities for IBRA regions and ecosystems;

DIRECTION 9: Priority IBRA regions to be reviewed and updated for the NRS regularly.


DIRECTION 10: State, Territory and Australian Government NRS Implementation Plans to be developed for each priority IBRA region.


Implementation plans would:

• test and refine principles underlying protected area selection and design;

• review condition of ecosystems within IBRA regions, the threatening processes, such as habitat fragmentation, introduced species, and potential changes in environmental conditions such as climate change, impacting on their ecosystems and dependent species, and the management measures to address the threatening processes; and

• review bioregional ecosystem priorities as identified by NLWRA biodiversity assessment project.

2.3.2 Overall Long-term targets

Practical targets need to be identified if the NRS Directions Statement is to be useful. In order to progress the NRS in the long term it would be desirable to enunciate in measurable terms the long-term objective. Further discussion is required to establish targets for freshwater ecosystems.

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DIRECTION 11: Natural Resource Policies and Programs Committee (NRPPC) of NRMMC to consider recommendations for long-term targets for the NRS taking into account the JANIS Reserve criteria which apply to forest ecosystems.


2.4 MONITORING PROGRESS OF NRS DEVELOPMENT

To ensure that progress in the development of the NRS can be appropriately monitored States and Territories will need to provide biennial reports. The reports, based on IBRA regions, will include information on the establishment of protected areas. Each jurisdiction will advise how the comprehensiveness of the protected area system has been improved by the establishment of new protected areas, or by acquisition of areas identified for future addition to the protected area system. This will enable priorities to be continually identified at the continental scale.

Monitoring and evaluation will need to consider issues such as:

• the increase in the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of ecosystems on private, public and Indigenous lands included in protected area systems;

• the increase in the knowledge on ecosystem distribution, components and threatening processes in high priority and/or poorly known IBRA regions

DIRECTION 12: Biennial reports to be prepared on the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of ecosystems in the NRS as per the NRS Scientific Guidelines.

Implementation: Australian Government with assistance from all jurisdictions starting 2005 then on-going.

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The range of ecosystems identified across the continent vary in their distribution, quality and extent to which they have been cleared or modified since European settlement from the extensive tropical forests of Queensland to the highly fragmented grassy woodlands of south-eastern Australia. Agricultural, pastoral and urban development has significantly and rapidly altered Australian vegetation and landscapes to varying degrees. In establishing a CAR reserve system in this context, it is recognized that there will need to be a range of mechanisms, on both public and private land, to ensure appropriate levels of reservation of the full range of ecosystems within the national reserve system. These range from larger protected areas in regions with greater connectivity of vegetation, through to protected area networks in highly fragmented systems where the best means of ensuring the viability of remnant ecosystems is compatible management of a series of protected areas across a range of land tenures.

As properties within the national reserve system are intended to be managed in the long-term for the protection of biodiversity, it is important that they meet a common list of criteria to be regarded as part of the formal reserve system.

To provide a meaningful way of measuring progress towards the CAR targets it is necessary for the National Reserve System to operate within an agreed framework of terms, protocols and standards. This is particularly important with the movement of the National Reserve System to include areas managed for conservation on private lands. The best way of doing this is to define a set of standards that must be met for a protected area to be included in the NRS and count towards meeting reservation targets.

All areas currently considered part of the NRS and all areas proposed for inclusion should meet these ‘minimum standards’. If lands included in the NRS are not sufficiently secured with respect to purpose

and management standard, their values are at risk of being lost or degraded, and reserve system planners may well have foregone opportunities to conserve the relevant ecosystems. For this reason a precautionary approach needs to be taken in deciding what is included in the National Reserve System.

3.1 STANDARDS FOR INCLUSION IN THE NRS

A fundamental requirement of any area’s eligibility for inclusion within the NRS is that it must meet the IUCN (World Conservation Union) definition of a ‘protected area’.

IUCN defines a ‘protected area’ as:

‘An area of land (and/or sea) especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means’ (IUCN 1994).

With this in mind, the following six standards follow directly from the protected area policy and definitions. They are derived primarily from the ‘Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories’ (IUCN 1994). The standards may also form the basis of a checklist to be used to ‘accredit’ land for inclusion into the NRS. The standards must be met by all owners/managers of private and publicly owned areas intended for inclusion in the NRS.

The following six standards must be met for an area to be included in the NRS.

1. The area must be especially dedicated for the primary purpose of protection and maintenance of biological diversity.

2. The area must be able to be classified into one or more of the six IUCN Protected Area Managed Categories (Appendix 1);

3. The area must be managed by legal or other

3.0 ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS

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effective means with effective security of purpose;

4. The area must contribute to the comprehensiveness, representativeness and adequacy of the National Reserve System

5. The area must be managed in a manner which is open to public scrutiny; and

6. The area must be able to be accurately identified on maps and on the ground.

Protected area management categories

The IUCN defined six categories into which protected areas may be further classified, as described in the following table (definitions are expanded in Appendix 1):

It is important that the objectives for management of the protected area are established before a category is assigned to the area. Thus, the use of the land is the driving consideration.

It is also important to closely inspect the nature of any resource consumption uses proposed for the land. Activities such as grazing, harvesting of biological products or extraction of earth resources are not normally acceptable in protected areas where they are not normally compatible with biodiversity conservation.

An exception is IUCN category VI; this allows for a sustainable flow of natural products to meet community needs. Most jurisdictions have made use of the category where limited non-indigenous resource use takes place within a protected area. Where category VI is applied, resource uses must not impact on the primary aim of management for biodiversity protection, and must be subject to Ecologically Sustainable Development principles. The use should be confined to a small part of the protected area.

It should be noted by way of example, that State Forest cannot be classified as a category VI protected area. State Forests are usually multi-use lands where the purpose for management is generally for harvesting of forest products, and not primarily for protection of biodiversity as required for a protected area.

Given the various protected area systems, and the more than 50 protected area categories across the country, the IUCN classification system provides a means for managers to compare management approaches. The Australian Government, States and Territories have variously categorized all protected area types according to the IUCN category system, and there remain a number of issues to resolve to ensure protected area criteria are being consistently applied.

Table 3 IUCN Protected Area Categories

Category Definition

I Ia Strict Nature Reserve: Protected Area managed mainly for science

Ib Wilderness Area: Protected Area managed mainly for wilderness protection

II National Park: Protected Area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation

III Natural Monument: Protected Area managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features

IV Habitat/Species Management Area: Protected area managed mainly for conservation through management intervention

V Protected Landscape/Seascape: Protected area managed mainly for conservation of a landscape/seascape resulting from the interaction of people with nature conservation and recreation

VI Managed Resource Protected Area: Protected Area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

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DIRECTION 13: Protected areas will continue to be reported on by IUCN categories, in accordance with IUCN Guidelines, and identified anomalies are to be resolved for CAPAD 2004.

Implementation: All jurisdictions by 2004 and on-going

Security of protected areas

The notion of security is a fundamental principle underpinning the requirement in the IUCN definition of Protected Area for areas to be ‘managed by legal or other effective means’.

It is considered that the areas in the National Reserve System will have security enough to be retained for the long term. The term ‘in perpetuity’ is often used in this context, but is difficult to define.

Protected Areas have a substantial measure of security when they are brought under the permanent control of an Act of Parliament, such as national park legislation. Under these circumstances, assent from both houses of parliament is required to revoke them or reduce their area. Public scrutiny through the parliamentary process is a powerful tool in this regard.

Contracts, covenants on title and other legal instruments on the other hand, offer potential alternatives to formal public reserves managed under an Act of Parliament and form an important potential mechanism to expand the coverage of protected areas. Their use in conservation planning, however, is relatively recent and their the long-term security, efficacy, and ‘track record’ is untested, and, to some extent, can often rely on the good will of the contracting parties. Furthermore, there may be little public scrutiny of their management or even their continued existence. In some jurisdictions, however, such as Queensland, the expiry or cancellation of some covenants requires revocation by the Governor in Council, ensuring some level of ‘public’ scrutiny or security of tenure.

Such contracts should be public documents and subject to public processes where possible while

respecting the privacy of landowners. The strength of contracts can be enhanced by ensuring the nature conservation agency in each jurisdiction is a party to the contract, and is involved in monitoring and reporting on the success of the contract.

For the purposes of the NRS, this Directions Statement adopts the following standards for “legal or other effective means”:

‘Legal means’

land is brought under control of an Act of Parliament, specialising in land conservation practices, and requires a Parliamentary process to extinguish the protected area or excise portions from it;

‘Other effective means’

for contract, covenant, agreement or other legal instrument, the clauses must include provisions to cover:

- long-term management – ideally this should be in perpetuity but, if this is not possible, then the minimum should be at least 99 years;

- the agreement to remain in place unless both parties agree to its termination;

- a process to revoke the protected area or excise portions from it is defined. For National Reserve System areas created through contribution of public funding, this process should involve public input-;

- the intent of the contract should, where applicable, be further reinforced through a covenant on the title of the land; and

- “well tested” legal or other means.

Delineating protected areas

It is important that it is possible to accurately identify protected areas and their boundaries for a range of management purposes. It is also important that, if necessary, the protected area is identifiable on the ground. This will also assist in accurate recording in CAPAD and reporting on the national reserve system estate.

In developing the standards adopted above, each

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jurisdiction has carried out a preliminary assessment of its reserve system against the NRS standards and made a preliminary assessment of where these are met and where improvements are needed.

DIRECTION 14: Mechanisms for protection and management of protected areas (both private and public) to be assessed in each jurisdiction against the above NRS standards and after consultation necessary enhancements made.

Implementation: All jurisdictions by 2005 for assessment against standards and by 2006 to make any necessary enhancements.

3.2 MECHANISMS FOR PROTECTED AREA ESTABLISHMENT

In Australia, it is acknowledged that the existing national parks and protected area system cannot meet the goals of a fully comprehensive, adequate and representative National Reserve System (NRS) without the additional protection of certain ecosystems remaining on privately-owned or public lands. To achieve the best possible outcomes for a National Reserve System, new partnership arrangements are being developed between governments, communities and private landowners, including indigenous landowners.

Achievement of the National Reserve System will require cooperative arrangements with private landowners (including traditional owners). Protected areas can be categorised according to the managing party - either public, private or indigenous. The category definitions are:

• Public Protected Areas:

Public Protected Areas, sometimes termed Dedicated Reserves, include the majority of Australia’s national parks and conservation parks and protected areas. They are usually reserved under specific legislation (e.g. national park legislation) and managed by the primary nature conservation agency in each jurisdiction, in accordance with the biodiversity management

provisions contained in the legislation, e.g. Kosciuszko National Park managed by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

• Private Protected Areas:

These include privately or publicly owned and leased lands managed by private individuals, incorporated groups, companies and local governments, which enjoy some form of legislative protection. Those Private Protected Area sites that are protected by legislation are often established under a different category of the same legislation as the public protected areas. However, a plethora of other mechanisms can also be employed ranging from legally binding instruments on title through contracts, and agreements. A protected area owned by the State can be vested in a trusteeship to a local government or community groups e.g. Bukkulla Conservation Park in Queensland managed by the Wildlife Land Fund Ltd (Qld).

• Indigenous Protected Areas:

Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) are owned and managed by Aboriginal communities such as the Yalata Aboriginal lands in South Australia. IPAs are managed in accordance with plans of management prepared by the Indigenous landholders which set out the stated management intentions of the traditional owners. IPAs may also involve the Indigenous landholders entering into conservation agreements with the State/Territory or the Australian Government which can provide the basis for additional assistance, support and protection.

Private and Indigenous Protected Areas

While the CAR reserve system should, as far as possible, be selected from existing public land in the first instance, private land must ultimately contribute to the NRS as, in many IBRA regions, many regional ecosystems and vegetation communities exist largely on private land or Indigenous land.

A number of strategies are appropriate for protecting biodiversity on private and Indigenous land. Such strategies range from purchase and subsequent reservation of priority areas by State

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and Territory governments to the development of mechanisms such as covenants and incentives to ensure protection on private land.

The level of protection possible on private land will be limited by the resources available to achieve protection and the willingness of the owner to participate. Conservation effort in this context therefore needs to be focused on priority species and ecosystems where there are no suitable options on public lands. The two key priorities are to ensure comprehensiveness so that samples of all ecosystems are included in viable protected areas in each IBRA

region in which they occur across their geographic range and to meet the special needs of rare, vulnerable or endangered species or ecosystems.

In recent years a number of non-government organisations have been established with the specific goal of raising funds to purchase and manage land with significant conservation values. Some of these organisations have national scope (e.g. Australian Bush Heritage Fund and Australian Wildlife Conservancy), whilst others concentrate their efforts in one jurisdiction (e.g. Wildlife Land Fund in Queensland, Trust for Nature in Victoria

Case Study - South East Forests National Park

The South East Forests National Park case study illustrates how protected areas may be established following

reviews of land use within a given region.

South East Forests National Park lies along the coastal escarpment of southern New South Wales between

Nimmitabel and the Victorian border, within the South East Corner and South Eastern Highlands bioregions. The

park covers 115,534 hectares and includes several sections, most of which are joined to form a long, narrow

park with a long perimeter. It is managed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.

The park was formed in 1997 from several existing smaller national parks, and considerable areas of state forest.

These areas of state forest were incorporated within the park following the establishment of a Regional Forest

Agreement (RFA). RFAs provide for comprehensive assessments of the natural, cultural, economic and social

values of forests.

The South East Forests National Park lies within the Eden

Regional Forest Agreement area. Assessment of the natural

values of this region identified a range of vegetation types

and targets for their reservation. The area of state forest

subsequently incorporated into the South East Forests

National Park included vegetation types with very low levels

of representation in existing conservation reserves, and

notably, large areas of old-growth forest. The park is an area

rich in its diversity of flora and fauna, and is vital to the long

term conservation of regional biodiversity. Several areas are

particularly rich in arboreal mammals and hollow-nesting

birds, while others are important habitats for threatened

animal species. The park also provides an important focus for

recreational activities in the region.

PHOTO: Trevor Preston, DEH

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& Tasmanian Land Conservancy). Organisations such as these are making, or have the potential to make, a significant contribution to the NRS, either through the donation of land for dedication as a protected area, or by covenanting properties in a secure mechanism that meets the requirements for inclusion in the NRS.

In many cases these organisations are working with relevant jurisdictions to target properties that are CAR priorities, and there are significant benefits for all parties in this ‘partnership’ approach.

Indigenous Protected Areas are another potential enhancement of the NRS, and another example of a partnership opportunity.

DIRECTION 15: An all Jurisdiction approach to be co-ordinated to assist capacity building for the Private Protected Areas and Indigenous Protected Areas component of the NRS.

Implementation: Australian Government by 2005

Given the increasing number of non-government organizations involved in managing protected areas, an opportunity to share ideas on protected area establishment and management and provide an avenue for capacity building, is considered to be a valuable step in progressing the NRS. It is anticipated that such a forum would be most effective if such an approach was further built on at the jurisdictional level.

DIRECTION 16: An annual national forum to be convened for managers (both government and non-government) of protected areas to discuss implementation of relevant directions in the Directions Statement.

Implementation: Australian Government by 2005, then annually.

3.2.1 Ability to increase covenanting

There are key ecosystems for protection under a CAR protected area system that cannot be acquired

Case Study - Bukkulla Conservation Park

In 2001, the Wildlife Land Fund Ltd initiated the purchase, with the support of the Queensland and Australian

Governments, of an 1813 ha property 10 kilometres north of Marlborough in Queensland for the creation

of Bukkulla Conservation Park. This protected area represents the conservation of the largest remaining area

of semi-evergreen vine thicket and Brigalow scrubby open forest, both of which are endangered ecological

communities. It also contains habitat for several threatened flora and fauna species including the Squatter

Pigeon.

The purchase of Bukkulla Conservation Park reflects how, under the umbrella of the Natural Heritage Trust, a

partnership was formed between the Australian and Queensland Governments, conservation groups and the

local community to protect Australia’s important ecosystems. Ownership of the land was transferred to the

Queensland Government and gazetted as a protected area on 17 May 2002, with the Wildlife Land Fund as

the sole Trustee. As Trustee, the Wildlife Land Fund agrees to manage the conservation park in accordance with

provisions of the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 and Nature Conservation Regulation 1994.

This management agreement takes into consideration the significant natural resources of the Bukkulla

Conservation Park, and allows the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Trustee to agree on the

specific direction management will take, and establishes the respective roles and responsibilities of the two

organisations in managing the Park.

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Case Study – Goonderoo Reserve

Bush Heritage, who administer the Australian Bush Heritage

Fund, is one of a number of national, independent, non-profit

organisations committed to preserving Australia’s biodiversity

by acquiring land of high conservation value and managing the

land in perpetuity for protection of those values. In June 1998 the

Australian Bush Heritage Fund was used to purchase Goonderoo,

a 593 hectare property near Emerald in central Queensland.

Goonderoo is located in the heart of central Queensland’s Brigalow

Belt biogeographic region, where land clearing has been extensive

in recent years. It contains nine distinct vegetation associations,

including endangered brigalow woodlands and native grasslands.

The property is home to 142 bird species, at least ten species of

snake and a wide variety of other wildlife including sugar gliders

and koalas.

Bush Heritage has formulated a management plan for Goonderoo,

the objective of which is to restore the native vegetation and

fauna communities and the health and integrity of water courses

by reducing threats from environmental weeds, inappropriate grazing regimes, feral animals and destructive

fire regimes. To further secure the future of the reserve, the Goonderoo Nature Refuge Agreement, was signed

between the Australian Bush Heritage Fund and the State of Queensland in September 2002. This Conservation

Agreement protects the land through a secure legal mechanism on the property title and which restricts the

activities that may take place there. Some examples of prohibited activities are: clearing of native vegetation or

other removal of native plants; mining or fossicking; and off-road recreational use of trail bikes or four wheel

drives.

In declaring the Goonderoo Nature Refuge under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992, the property

must be managed to:

* conserve the area’s significant natural resources;

* provide for the controlled use of the area’s natural resources; and

* provide for the interests of land-holders to be taken into account.

The agreement between Bush Heritage and the Queensland government includes the following specific

commitments regarding management:

* the Landholders will continue to graze the nature refuge area at a low to moderate grazing pressure (for

environmental management purposes);

* the Landholders will continue to monitor vegetation dynamics and conduct incidental and formal fauna

surveys; and

* the Landholders will be responsible for all land management issues including prevention, spread and control

of pest plant and animal species and soil erosion, with the intention of protecting the conservation values of

the nature refuge.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Australian Bush Heritage Fund (Wayne Lawler/Ecopix)

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Case Study - Nantawarrina

Nantawarrina was the first Indigenous Protected Area (API) to be established in Australia and was declared

on 26 August 1998. Funding for its establishment was provided by the National Heritage Trust, through the

Indigenous Protected Areas part of the National Reserve System program. The 58,000 ha property is located in

the Stony Plains IBRA region in South Australia, adjacent to the southern boundary of Gammon Ranges National

Park in the Flinders Ranges. The title to the land is held by South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust (SAALT) on

behalf of the Adnyamathanha people. Members of the Nepabunna community (near Leigh Creek) manage the

Nantawarrina property with which they have traditional ties. The process required extensive community planning

and consultations, and drew on strong community commitment to managing the landscape based on both

cultural and natural conservation values.

Since the project started, community

members have been trained in many areas

including environmental management,

fencing, safe chemical handling, tourism,

feral animal control and identifying

endangered species.’

The property is managed in accordance

with IUCN protected area guidelines,

and an agreed plan of management

which includes a three-year work

plan. A comprehensive management

plan was prepared and is now being

implemented. Nantawarrina is managed

in accordance with four IUCN Protected

Area Management categories: Category

II; Category IV, Category V, and Category

VI. On-ground management activities

include weed and feral animal control,

revegetation, interpretation of sites and

walking tracks, visitor management and

maintenance of visitor facilities.

Recent work has included the develop-

ment of infrastructure including signage, provision of water supply for camping grounds and huts, upgrading

camping grounds, and feral animal and weed control. Goat traps are working well and the number of feral

animals is being kept at minimum. Extensive road works have also been undertaken facilitating access onto

Nantawarrina. A Tourism Plan is also under preparation.

Nantawarrina was among only three Australian winners of a UNEP Global 500 award on World Environment

Day 2000 recognising the significant efforts of the Nepabunna community in managing Nantawarrina as

an IPA.

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(for economic and/or social reasons) under a voluntary acquisition program.

Covenanting provisions vary in all jurisdictions in terms of capacity, scope and the sanctions applying to breaches. Some States have well-established trusts with revolving funds specifically set up for the purpose of land purchase, covenanting and on-selling (Western Australia and Victoria); others are still in the process of setting up such trusts or are actively exploring the concept.

Properties already owned by individuals, community groups, corporate entities or local government and containing significant, verified biodiversity values in viable condition may be included as part of the NRS through a process of accreditation, gazettal and/or nature conservation covenanting. In such circumstances the protection mechanisms together must meet the requirements for management of an appropriate IUCN category.

Taxation benefits are available for entering into conservation covenants to protect areas of high conservation value. Landowners entering into a conservation covenant after 1 July 2002 are eligible for an income tax deduction for any decrease in land value provided the landowner received no capital proceeds for entering the covenant (note that this does not include payments for management). To qualify for a deduction, a conservation covenant must:

a. be in perpetuity and, where possible, attached to the title of the land

b. be approved by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage (either directly or through being part of an approved conservation covenant program)

c. be valued at more than $5,000 or be attached to land acquired less than 12 months before the covenant was attached; and

d. be entered into with a deductible gift recipient or the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or local governing body or an authority of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

Where landholders enter into a covenant on land they already own, they may also be eligible for

taxation relief through a process of calculating capital loss by comparing capital proceeds before and after covenant, and calculating capital gain by comparing capital proceeds between the covenant portion and the entire land.

Use of revolving funds

Most jurisdictions have facilitated or established a ‘revolving fund’, which has the potential to purchase and protect land that can be added to the NRS. A revolving fund is a sum of money, usually administered by an independent Trust, that is used to purchase land of significant conservation value, covenant the land to protect the conservation values, and then resell the land, thus ‘revolving’ the funds back into the Trust to be used to purchase and protect further areas of land.

Covenants and revolving funds can be very cost-effective ways of ensuring a degree of security is given to lands with significant conservation values.

DIRECTION 17: Covenanting and the use of revolving fund arrangements to be implemented as part of the NRS where appropriate and managers of revolving funds to be encouraged to give priority to implement NRS objectives.


3.2.2 Potential for more direct individual and private, indigenous and other groups involvement in NRS establishment and management

There is potential for more direct involvement of non-government organisations (NGOs) in the NRS. Under the NRS program, applications from private groups were only accepted formally from 1998-99. The IPA component of the NRSP commenced in 1996-97. Both components have been successful. Between 1998 and 2004, over $14.6 million was provided for more than 50 projects to local governments and non-government organisations to own and manage a million hectares of protected areas. The significant trend over recent years is the increase in the size of NGO acquisitions with the

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purchase by the Australian Bush Heritage Fund of the 59,000 hectare Carnarvon Station near Emerald, and the purchase by Birds Australia of the 262,600 hectare Newhaven Station near Alice Springs. Nineteen Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) covering about 14 million hectares have also been added to the national reserve system.

The potential for greater involvement relates to a greater awareness and understanding of the criteria of the NRS. In late 1998 and early 1999, the Department of the Environment and Heritage conducted a series of awareness seminars with the support of the National Parks Foundation and the participation of the relevant state/territory conservation agency. Seminars were conducted in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. There was a great deal of interest in the Program but the potential is limited by the need for an organisation to raise significant amounts of funds not only for the purchase but also for capital works and ongoing management. These costs will generally limit private applications to organisations that have a large membership base and members with access to significant funds and strong interest in nature conservation reserves. There is an Australian Government requirement for establishment funding assistance under the Natural Reserve System program, for private protected areas to be open to the public, subject to normal permit and access controls.

Further assistance for ongoing management of private protected areas and Indigenous protected areas needs further consideration in the context of the increasing importance of protected areas and the community benefits of conservation of Australia’s biodiversity. Currently the IPAs receive funding for development of management plans, consultations and negotiations, and a share of on-ground management costs on a year by year arrangement.

The potential for partnerships or sponsorships with private organisations or business organisations for purchasing and/or managing protected areas should be examined. Opportunities may be available for appropriate protected areas which provide benefits to business by demonstrating environmental commitment and credibility and also providing for

the continuation and enhancement of conservation values of the protected area.

There has been an increase in interest and applications from local government especially in Queensland where collection of an environmental levy is common. Further extension work is needed to expand the range of councils involved more broadly across Australia.

Adjacent landholders are often well placed to provide management services for protected areas in their vicinity. This is particularly the case in remote areas where it is not possible to establish a Ranger presence. Some landholders may undertake management tasks voluntarily through interest in conservation and others by way of contract or other form of incentive.

Landholders may also be involved in the establishment of protected area within the National Reserve System by the amalgamation of pieces of land of high conservation value from several adjacent properties to form a protected area. The new reserve thus formed might be managed by one or more of the adjacent landholders. This option is particularly suitable for areas of extensive pastoralism where, often, properties have extensive areas of land unused for pastoral purposes and of high conservation value. Sometimes these areas are contiguous with those on adjacent properties. There is then the potential to amalgamate them into very significant privately owned and managed protected areas. The use of management skills of adjacent property holders will be particularly suitable in these areas where integrated fire, weed and feral animal management can be facilitated across the pastoral properties and the newly established parks. There are a number of bioregions across Australia where this approach promises to be more cost effective and to deliver better conservation outcomes than might be achieved by adopting the traditional model of acquisition by Government and management by a Park Service.

Many jurisdictions have introduced, or are considering introducing specific incentive programs to encourage greater private participation in nature conservation initiatives. For example, in Queensland

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the ‘Green Rewards’ program gives landholders who enter into a Conservation Agreement (a form of covenant) a refund of transfer duty (if the property was purchased after 1/7/2003) and/or a rebate on land tax. A Conservation Agreement results in the dedication of a Nature Refuge, which is an IUCN category VI protected area, meaning Nature Refuges become part of the NRS.

A considerable number of regional ecosystems are found only in small and geographically isolated locations, meaning acquisition of these small areas for traditional protected areas may not be feasible. In these instances the CAR system will only be able to be enhanced by encouraging private landholders to covenant their areas of significant conservation value, and the use of incentives will facilitate the addition of these important areas to the NRS.

DIRECTION 18: As incentives will be necessary to achieve the NRS, continue to investigate and implement relevant incentives.

Implementation: All jurisdictions – on-going

Leasehold lands

An issue which requires further investigation is the use of leasehold lands, whose primary purpose is agricultural production, for conservation. Vast areas of the continent are under leasehold and contain significant ecosystems and constituent biota, particularly in the more arid regions. Some jurisdictions are looking at how legislative provisions may provide for leasehold properties, or portions of such properties, to be managed for conservation.

3.2.3 Protected area networks

The physical linking of protected areas across the landscape through the retention and management of vegetated lands between them is critical for the longs term achievement of broad biodiversity conservation objectives. Such linkages are called protected area networks, or conservation management networks. In highly fragmented landscapes such as the major agricultural zones where lands are primarily in private ownership, there are usually few, if any, opportunities to protect sufficiently large tracts of unmodified native vegetation in formal reserves. Here, networks become the main mechanism for achieving conservation objectives across the landscape.

An example of protected area network development in Australia is the Grassy White Box Woodland project in New South Wales in which the conservation of the endangered grassy white box woodland ecosystem is being achieved through the protection of individual remnants using existing mechanisms such as voluntary conservation agreements, local environmental planning and nature refuges, supported and linked by an overarching management structure.

Similar protected area networks, where high quality remnants in proximity to each other are protected through a range of mechanisms across a range of land tenures, are also being developed for threatened temperate grassland and woodland communities.

Case Study - Conservation Management Networks

Conservation Management Networks (CMNs) are networks of remnant vegetation managed under a range of

protection mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, usually across a range of land tenures. As such, they

involve a range of land managers including government, non-government organizations and individual

landholders. Such networks are now being established in Australia in areas where there has been a high degree

of modification to the landscape, and vegetation has become highly fragmented as a result. At the core of these

networks are areas managed in perpetuity for the maintenance of biodiversity.

Cont’d on page 46

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One such example is the Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network in Victoria, covering the eastern

part of the South East Coastal Plain bioregion. The vegetation of the bioregion includes lowland forests, open

forests with shrubby or heathy understoreys, grasslands and grassy woodlands, heathlands, shrublands, freshwater

and coastal wetlands, mangrove scrubs, saltmarshes, dune scrubs and coastal tussock grasslands. However, as

this is a highly productive area, most of the vegetation in the bioregion has been cleared or modified, and today

21% of the original extent of vegetation remains, mostly in small and often isolated remnants.

The lowland Gippsland Plain was identified by the State government and the non-government organization

Trust for Nature as a priority for conserving biodiversity. While a small number of conservation reserves existed

on public land in the area, a concerted effort by the Trust for Nature and local landholders saw a rise in the

number of linked, vegetated remnants managed in perpetuity for conservation. With funding assistance from the

National Reserve System Program (NRSP), the Trust purchased three properties which it now manages as Private

Protected Areas (Frair’s, Bush Family, and Billabong West Reserves). At the same time, the Trust was undertaking

a strategic and targeted program to sign voluntary, legally-binding conservation covenants over private land

containing high quality and under-represented ecosystems (Edwards & Traill 2003). The Trust-owned properties,

the conservation covenants and the public reserves all make up the CMN (see Fig. 6). On-going support for

management of the network is provided through direct support through the Trust, There is now over 1,000 ha

of private land permanently protected and 11,000 ha of public land is part of the CMN. A dedicated ranger

conducts and coordinates conservation management activities across all tenures within the network. The CMN

has now become an incorporated body with key positions held by landowners.

The NRSP was further involved in the CMN by part-funding the purchase of almost 200 ha of endangered

Plains Grassy Woodland in the area, now reserved and managed by the Victorian Government as the Swallow

Lagoon Nature Conservation Reserve (Fitzsimons & Ashe 2003). Further details on the history and attributes of

the Gippsland Plains CMN, and another CMN – the Grassy Box Woodlands – are presented in Fitzsimons &

Wescott (2005).

Figure 6: The location of components in the Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network (as of January 2002). Source: Fitzsimons (2004). Note: An additional 10 covenants on private lands have since been included

Cont’d from page 45

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3.2.4 Mechanisms meeting the NRS standards

There is a range of conservation mechanisms available to each jurisdiction on public and private land and the extent to which they are eligible for inclusion in the NRS is variable. Many mechanisms clearly do not have the long-term security necessary for inclusion, whilst others fall just short. Overall, at present, the majority of public protected areas in jurisdictions meet the NRS accreditation standards while the majority of private and indigenous protected areas do not have the level of long-term security to be accredited within the NRS.

There is clearly a need across all jurisdictions for a strengthening of many conservation mechanisms to ensure long-term security of protection of the biodiversity for which they are set up to protect.

The following directions have been developed in order for jurisdictions to explore the possibilities for strengthening existing mechanisms which would subsequently improve protection and allow for accreditation within the NRS.

DIRECTION 19: A review of current legislation to be conducted in each jurisdiction, including covenanting arrangements and legislation relevant to leasehold lands, and if necessary and feasible action taken to ensure there is a clear nexus between enabling legislation and reserve system objectives.


DIRECTION 20: Processes and legislation will be examined in each jurisdiction to ensure that any proposal to excise an area from an NRS Protected Area is made subject to a process of public notification.


DIRECTION 21: Model documentation including agreements and covenants will be prepared for use by intending PA managers and be accessible on the NRS website. These shall incorporate all standards referred to in section 3.2.

Implementation: Australian Government by 2005

DIRECTION 22: Inclusion of the relevant State/Territory will be sought as a party to each agreement establishing a Private or Indigenous Protected Area.

Implementation: Australian Government by 2005 and on-going

DIRECTION 23: Jurisdictions, and those establishing and managing protected areas, where appropriate, to investigate possible collaboration/partnerships with private organizations including business in regard to establishment and management of particular protected areas.


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3.3 MANAGEMENT ACCREDITATION

Owners and managers of protected areas require appropriate credentials to manage protected areas. This may include an accreditation process including consideration of:

• appropriateness of the body or individual to be a protected area manager;

• skill base;

• capability to undertake continuous improvement and training;

• access to a revenue stream to undertake necessary management works.

Managers of private protected areas would be advised to establish networks with park agencies to assist with management advice. Many park agencies have operating guidelines for protected areas, which may be very useful for managers of private protected areas.

A further consideration is the extent to which management of protected areas should be delegated to another manager such as a committee of management. Any such delegation should be subject to the same accreditation process as for the original manager. If a private protected area is involved, then this should be approved as a variation to the contract.

DIRECTION 24: A national code of management should be developed to ensure protected area management is of an appropriately high standard.


DIRECTION 25: Nature conservation agencies or appropriate NGOs should encourage partnerships with private protected area managers to provide advice, assistance, and training and support as required.


3.4 MONITORING RESERVE ESTABLISHMENT

The National Reserve System is a collaborative system overseen by the Australian Government, State and Territory Governments. It is intended there be regular reporting on a set of basic attributes of the system. For the government funded components of the NRS, standard rules of public accountability apply.

In most cases, reporting will be undertaken by the protected area manager (of both public and private protected areas). Information should be supplied to the government of the jurisdiction in which the protected area is located. The relevant government will be responsible for assessing candidate areas and deciding on whether such areas meet the NRS standards outlined in this statement and whether they will be included as part of the NRS in CAPAD reporting. This would then be reviewed by DEH to ensure that the standards are being applied consistently between states and territories. Summary statistics for all protected areas are maintained by the Department of the Environment and Heritage and are available as published reports and on the National Reserve System website at http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/index.html .

All areas included in the National Reserve System are required to report on basic protected area attributes to the Australian Government or State/Territory Jurisdiction, in the following way:

• Summary statistics would be regularly made available for inclusion in a comprehensive register of protected area statistics (requirements include: area, location details, ecological communities represented, comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness and IUCN category assigned by the jurisdiction for each of its NRS protected areas). These will be maintained in the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD), by the Australian Government.

http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/index.html

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DIRECTION 26: Protected areas in each jurisdiction, which meet NRS standards and which therefore qualify for listing in the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD), to be reported on, detailing the attributes of each protected area and its contribution to CAR. Such reports are to also include information on any NRS-qualifying Private Protected Areas to which the jurisdiction is a party, to ensure there is a comprehensive register of all qualifying protected areas for each jurisdiction. The Australian Government will continue compiling CAPAD.

Implementation: All jurisdictions for CAPAD 2004 report and on-going

DIRECTION 27: Protected Area managers are to maintain public reporting processes and observe public accountability standards.


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Once protected areas are declared, the onus is on protected area managers to ameliorate or control current threats to the biodiversity values for which they were established and to put arrangements in place for their long-term management.

There are, clearly, strong linkages between the biodiversity values of the land, the reserve type declared and the assignment of an appropriate IUCN protected area category.

To maintain the primary biodiversity conservation values of a given protected area, and to manage it in accordance with its assigned IUCN protected area category, protected areas in Australia are managed in accordance with common broad management principles. More specific management objectives are developed by the relevant protected area manager in each jurisdiction to address the needs of the specific values of the protected area, the relevant IUCN category management objectives, the legislation under which it is governed, particular circumstances of the areas’ ownership, and the regional context.

4.1 MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLESProtected area management today reflects the growth in the acceptance by land managers of a landscape based approach for the maintenance of ecological functions and processes. Also enshrined in these principles are the notions of intergenerational equity and the application of the precautionary principle in decision-making processes.

There is a series of underlying principles in relation to protected area management which embody contemporary thinking on protected area management:

• Protected areas must be managed through the development and implementation of an appropriate plan of management.

• Management plans and management decisions should be based on good baseline biological information and involve stakeholder (including Indigenous) consultation in the development of management options.

• Management decisions should be knowledge-based and adaptive to changing circumstances in response to targeted flora and fauna management regimes.

• Management programs in protected areas must be consistent with the primary aim of maintaining biodiversity values and the relevant IUCN protected area category objectives.

• The level of public access, the extent of facility development and all use of the area should be related to the objectives of the protected area, the relevant IUCN protected area category, and be specified in the management plan. (The levels of access are further clarified in the definitions of protected area categories (Appendix 1)).

• Protected area agencies should have in place monitoring and evaluation programs to continually assess management effectiveness and the extent to which protected area values are being maintained.

4.2 MANAGEMENT PLANSManagement plans contain strategies and actions that will lead to the achievement of the primary management objective and inform the manager on the effectiveness of the actions undertaken. Under the NRS standards, the plan must have performance indicators and be subject to independent, public scrutiny and reporting. It must be authorised by the State, Territory or Australian Government (or Agency responsible for protected areas).

All uses must be in keeping with the primary conservation objective. Uses, including access for the public and those associated with use or exploitation of natural and cultural resources, must be secondary to the primary conservation objective. These uses must also be specified in the plan.

Management planning documents should be appropriate to suit the nature of the protected area. Plans should be subject to regular review and updating. Public contribution and consultation should take place where the land has been acquired with the assistance of public funds. The extent

4.0 MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS

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of consultation should be appropriate to the area. For private protected areas the extent of the management plan and the extent of consultation should be negotiated in the contract establishing the protected area.

DIRECTION 28: Management plans or, where this is not possible, statements of management intent, to be in place for all existing NRS Reserves and for any new reserves within three years of establishment unless Native Title Act considerations preclude this.


DIRECTION 29: Interim management guidelines to be in place within nine months of acquisition of protected areas under the NRS program.

Implementation: All jurisdictions within nine months of property acquisition

4.3 KEY MANAGEMENT ISSUESManagers of protected areas, whether on private or public land, face common management challenges to ensure the long-term protection of the values of the reserve within the context of the above underlying principles. Management must also take account of the protected area’s role and relationship within the broader landscape. Many issues must be managed within this context. The following are key issues facing protected area managers.

Fire

Fire has been a part of the Australian landscape for millions of years, more so since climatic changes saw the spread across the continent of eucalypts, acacias, grasses and other now widely-distributed and well-known Australian flora. Most ecosystems have evolved in response to periodic fires, and since Aboriginal arrival, modified burning patterns in parts of the landscape. Changes to fire regimes, whether in frequency, seasonality, or intensity, can result in significant changes to biodiversity. Land development has led to the development of

residential, agricultural and horticultural assets with increased potential for risk to life and property from uncontrolled fire. All jurisdictions are required by relevant laws to ensure maintenance of biodiversity and to ensure protection of life and assets. Fire management programs must take account of the role of fire in the particular landscape, implications of various fire regimes on the region’s ecosystems, the life history and habitat requirements of species of conservation significance, and the potential impact of wildfire on adjacent lands.

Protected areas should be managed in accordance with fire management plans which address the purposes of reservation and management objectives for the protected area and take into account:

• ecological role of fire, (optimal fire regime for the full range of habitats in the protected area based on sound scientific knowledge and cultural knowledge to achieve agreed biodiversity outcomes; understanding of fire regimes on species of conservation significance);

• understanding of implications of fire regimes on catchment processes;

• public safety and asset protection;

• movement of fire across the landscape and to and from neighbouring lands; and

• appropriate levels of access for fire management within the above contexts.

The outcomes of the 2004 Council of Australian Governments Inquiry (COAG) on Bushfire Mitigation and Management will be incorporated into fire management in protected areas.

DIRECTION 30: Protected areas to be managed in accordance with fire management plans which take into account the purpose of reservation and management objectives for the protected area and take into account issues such as public safety, the ecological role of fire, landscape effects of fire, indigenous use of fire and asset protection.


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Introduced species

Introduced plants and animals are now a part of most of the Australian landscape. While some species may co-exist with native species without significantly displacing them, for the majority, the impacts can be severe. Control of introduced plants and animals is a legislative requirement in all jurisdictions and protected area legislation. In addition, protected area programs should take account of their requirements under the National Weeds Strategy, National Feral Animal Control program, and threat abatement plans for threatening processes, or recovery plans for species or communities, which may require certain control measures for invasive species. Given the specific values of the protected area, and the nature of the invasive species and their potential impacts, responses will range from eradication, where possible, to control. Management effort should be based on a sound knowledge base of the invader species and its impacts. A standard aim for all protected areas should be the prevention of the introduction of new species. Management of introduced weeds and animals must take into account the location of the protected area within the broader landscape and potential of movement to and from neighbouring lands.

Tourism/Park visitation

A major objective for some protected area categories is to provide for the enjoyment and education of visitors, and many protected areas make a significant contribution to the region’s economy. Where these occur, a key focus of management programs is to ensure recreational experiences are undertaken in a safe and rewarding way. However, such activities must be managed to ensure protected area values are not compromised. Threats to biodiversity from recreational activity include changes to water quality, permanent modification of sites, and introduction and spread of weeds and pathogens on vehicles. It is necessary to set aside areas from public access to ensure that the greater portion of all ecosystems represented within the protected area will continue to remain largely natural and unmodified by recreational activity.

Neighbour relations

Ecological, social and economic integration of protected areas into the surrounding area is increasingly becoming a determining factor in their long-term viability. This can partly be achieved by ensuring that increased benefits flow from parks and that ecosystem management on parks is supported by the management on surrounding lands. Many protected areas face problems from pest plant invasion, encroachment of feral and domestic animals, altered fire and drainage patterns. Some adjacent landholders raise concerns about impacts on private lands, such as, fire and native animals, emanating from bordering protected areas. It is therefore essential that landholders adjacent to protected areas are engaged in a co-operative way with protected area managers.

Management programs must increasingly recognize protected areas as part of the broader landscape. The Best Practice Report for Stakeholder Management -Neighbour Relations (NSW NPWS 1997) identifies a series of best practice standards for protected area managers.

Resource use

The primary purpose of protected areas is the long-term protection and maintenance of biodiversity and other natural and associated resources, and as such most types of resource use are incompatible with this goal.

However, some protected area categories make provision for certain consumptive uses. These are mostly IUCN Category VI protected areas, which allow for a sustainable flow of natural products to meet community needs. In making provision for resource use, it is recognized that the type and level of resource consumption should only be undertaken within the primary conservation goal. This requires an understanding of the impacts of the resource use on the biodiversity values of the protected area. Activities such as grazing, harvesting of biological products or extraction of earth resources are not normally acceptable in protected areas when they are not compatible with biodiversity conservation purpose. Resource use activities would normally

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be confined to a small part of the protected area and must be subject to Ecologically Sustainable Development principles.

Stakeholder involvement

It is widely acknowledged, both in Australia and internationally, that the viability of a soundly planned and managed protected area network relies on public support. All levels of Government recognise the value of local communities becoming involved in decision making and taking a more active role in managing their local environments. Governments also realise that community capacity building and the enhancement of social capital can have significant flow–on effects in improving a region’s environmental, social and economic well being.

Public participation is an integral component of protected area management in Australia. Protected area legislation for all jurisdictions outlines the process for involvement of stakeholders in the preparation of management plans for protected areas. Other means of stakeholder involvement are through such arrangements as advisory committees, ‘Friends’ groups, and volunteer activities. Such arrangements are variously established through legislation or on a more informal basis.

DIRECTION 31: Principles for key management issues to be developed based on best practice standards for protected area management.


4.4 CO-OPERATIVE MANAGEMENT WITH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

Increasingly there are moves to improve relations with and involvement of indigenous communities in protected area management, and recognition of indigenous association with, knowledge of and cultural responsibilities for land. Co-operative management, or co-management, describes an institutional arrangement in which the government shares the management power and responsibility

for the protected area with the local indigenous community. It embraces a range of government - indigenous partnerships that involve various degrees of decision-making power sharing from seeking advice or information at an informal level to legislated joint management arrangements, (such as Kakadu and Uluru National Parks). Such partnerships can encourage insights and perspectives offered by indigenous people who have a rich source of ecological knowledge, systems of local rule-making and enforcement, and relationship with the region that is integral to their cultural identity.

DIRECTION 32: A process for engagement of indigenous communities in protected area management to be in place in each jurisdiction.


4.5 LEGISLATIVE MECHANISMS FOR PRIVATE PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT

Protected areas established under State, Territory and Commonwealth legislation have regulations established in law to assist in the management of protected areas. In some jurisdictions (e.g. Tasmania) protected areas may be declared over private land and therefore the regulations may be used to assist with the protection and management of such areas. However, in some cases these are not currently available to private protected area or IPA managers. This has the potential to present difficulties for managers in some circumstances in meeting their management obligations.

DIRECTION 33: The potential for the application of relevant laws to be investigated to assist in the protection of values on Indigenous Protected Areas and Private Protected Areas in each jurisdiction.


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4.6 MONITORING MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS

To achieve effective performance in the management of protected areas, as outlined in the Directions Statement, the Best Practice Model identified by the former ANZECC Working Group on National Parks and Protected Area Management in its Benchmarking and Best Practice program (ANZECC 2002) and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Framework for Assessing the Management of Protected Areas (Hocking et al 2000) have been adopted. These models focus on the development of outcome-based performance indicators strongly linked to the goals sought by managers and stakeholders.

See:

• http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/best-practice/index.html

• www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/pubs/pdfs/Evaluating_Effect.pdf

The performance assessment of individual protected areas is the responsibility of the jurisdiction in which the protected area is declared, or the owner of the land where the reserve is on private land. Consistent processes developed for performance assessment at the individual protected area level will allow for the collection, analysis and reporting of performance assessment for the system at any level, e.g. for the system as a whole or at the IBRA region level.

In addition, assessment of management effectiveness will need to consider issues such as:

• the extent to which protected areas are managed in accordance with World Conservation Union (IUCN) criteria and appropriate management plans;

• progress towards the development and adoption of ANZECC best management standards for protected areas; and

• the level of awareness of, perception of and public support and interest in, the NRS including by landholders whose properties have

or could make a valuable contribution to the NRS and the public.

Areas included in the National Reserve System should report in the following way:

All areas:

(a) The management of NRS areas to be periodically and independently reviewed (examples of review processes for the dedicated parks systems are the Park Advisory Councils and Commissions that occur in most jurisdictions). Private and Indigenous Protected Areas require a review process undertaken by an independent body and determined by a jointly agreed process. This process should be recorded in the contract establishing the protected area.

(b) For areas receiving public funds for acquisition and/or management, basic standards of financial accountability must be met and reported to the relevant jurisdiction. Private protected areas that have not received any public funding are not obliged to report.

(c) Protected area agencies should provide a clearly established location where members of the public may view and have input into the development or review of a management plan.

Public or dedicated protected areas only:

(d) Reporting for NRS areas (e.g. area, expenditure, works) should be included in annual reports and websites so that the public can be kept informed.

DIRECTION 34: A reporting system, such as State of the Parks report, which identifies programs to monitor management effectiveness and progress towards achieving protected area objectives, to be in place in each jurisdiction.


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4.7 BEST PRACTICE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The National Parks and Protected Area Management Network was established under the former Land and Water Biodiversity Committee of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council to provide an inter-Governmental mechanism for identification and resolution of park and protected area management issues at a national level across Australia and New Zealand. The Network comprises representatives of each State and Territory park service, the Department of the Environment and Heritage and New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. See: http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/best-practice/index.html

A series of reports, each one dealing with a particular aspect of protected area management, has been prepared under the program. For those projects completed, each agency is now in a position to check its own performance against best practice standards to determine, if appropriate, how it can bridge the gap. This process is the key to optimising the benefit to organisations in their participation in the benchmarking exercises.

DIRECTION 35: An assessment against ANZECC best practice standards to be undertaken in each jurisdiction as part of the regular State of the Parks reporting.


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5.1 FUNDING ARRANGEMENTSImplementation of the Directions Statement will be dependent on the availability of funding and will require the development of appropriate detailed implementation plans for individual actions and groups of actions and the identification of performance indicators.

To achieve 80% comprehensiveness will require securing for conservation purposes areas of high priority on private land. In some cases this may involve purchases for inclusion in the public protected area system and in others financial assistance to owners to ensure that conservation values can be protected through appropriate covenants for at least 99 years whilst the land remains in private ownership. In the latter cases costs will not be as high as outright purchase and there will be considerable cross benefits between the NRS and other national and regional programs and strategies for ensuring native vegetation retention and sustainable natural resource management.

The achievement of 80% comprehensiveness would be a major national achievement and contribute significantly to the overall achievement of sustainable natural resource management.

National Reserve System Program (NRSP)

The NRS Program has been an important source of funding for progressing the NRS. The NRS program activity has been identified by the Australian Government as one of the ten priority investments for the Natural Heritage Trust 2 and the grant activity for assisting with the establishment of a CAR reserve system will continue under the new arrangements.

DIRECTION 36: A joint partnership approach to be maintained for funding NRS acquisitions and new partnerships to be considered where appropriate. Governments to consider sources and quantum of funding for the NRS.


5.2 CORE DATA SETSA key component of delivering the NRS will be the maintenance and acquisition of core information to inform planning and management and ensuring information is available to all protected area and other land mangers.

DIRECTION 37: A work program to be developed for the identification, acquisition and maintenance of core data sets required for the NRS.

Implementation: NRS Scientific Advisory Group by 2005 and on-going

5.3 COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND INVOLVEMENT

Support for and awareness of protected areas in Australia is generally high although this varies regionally. For example, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that almost half of the Australian public visit a park each year. A Queensland study in 1999 showed a high level of support for the national park concept, with 46% supporting the existing national number of parks and a further 39% believing there should be more parks in the state. However, this support should not be taken for granted in a time of rapid social change; and a continuing program of education and interpretation about parks, their values and their appropriate use is required to maintain a wide and dedicated support base.

In particular, further education is needed about the role of protected areas in protecting a wide range of landscapes and ecosystems, and the benefits that this protection brings to the local communities and the nation as a whole.

While support for protected area ideals is strong, there is very limited understanding about the National Reserve System and the principles which underlie it, even among conservation agency staff and conservation supporters. Increased

5.0 PROGRESSING THE NRS

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understanding of this would assist in the future development of the System, and in greater community support for the acquisition and management of new parks.

The Australian public is vitally interested in biodiversity conservation and various government and non-government initiatives have created the desire for public involvement in conservation planning and management. The two main issues are harnessing community support for conservation through the NRS and more active community involvement in management of NRS reserves.

Desired outcomes for community awareness are:

• greater community awareness of the role and values of protected area systems in general and of the National Reserve System in particular;

• wider understanding of the meaning and value of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system and thus of the need for park acquisitions in a wide range of landscapes; and

• understanding among decision-makers, conservation agency staff and stakeholders of the role and function of the NRS and support for adequate resourcing of acquisition, establishment and management of protected areas.

DIRECTION 38: A communication strategy to be prepared to increase awareness and understanding of the objectives and achievements of the National Reserve System.


5.4 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Notwithstanding the particular roles and actions identified earlier, the general roles of the States, Territories and Australian Government for the NRS are outlined below.

• contribute data to the terrestrial component of CAPAD;

• carry out regional gap analyses to identify regional priorities as a basis for protected area selection;

• provide input to national gap analysis by conducting gap analyses based on protected area coverage within IBRA regions;

• identify, select, declare and manage protected areas as part of NRS and assist NGOs and private, including indigenous, landholders to manage protected areas as part of the NRS;

• review and further develop IBRA as appropriate;

• Australian Government/State/Territory, as relevant, assessing candidate protected areas against the NRS accreditation standards; and

• review funding arrangements to more equitably balance acquisition costs with the cost of establishment plus on going management.

To facilitate the progress of the NRS, the Australian Government will also:

• contribute funding through a relevant program to State and Territory agencies for appropriate projects leading to the declaration and management of protected areas;

• coordinate the future development of IBRA;

• coordinate other technical products that are required to underpin the development of the NRS, eg. the terrestrial component of CAPAD; and

• assist with the development of national priorities through gap analysis; facilitate cross-jurisdictional cooperation and exchange of information; coordinate strategic planning for the NRS including establishment guidelines; and ensure national consistency in the interpretation of the application of the IUCN protected area management categories to the NRS, using the NRS Scientific Advisory Group in an advisory role.

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GlossaryAdequacy The maintenance of the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species

and communities.

Biodiversity The variety of life forms: the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems they form. It is usually considered at three levels: genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.

Biogeographic Region A biogeographic region, or IBRA region, is a region in which the boundaries are determined by vegetation cover, and the earth’s physical features and climate.

CAR reserve system A system of protected areas that address comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness (CAR) of all its component ecosystems.

Complementarity The need for individual protected areas to complement, rather than excessively replicate, one another in terms of the features they contain. Following the complementarity concept leads to targets for representation of the features in a region being achieved more efficiently (in terms of the number or extent of protected areas) thereby increasing the likelihood of those targets being met.

Comprehensiveness Inclusion of the full range of ecosystems recognised at an appropriate scale within and across each IBRA region (see ecosystem).

Condition The current state of ecosystems compared to what would be considered pristine.

Conservation The protection, maintenance, management, sustainable use, restoration and enhancement of the natural environment.

Conservation status The extent to which ecosystems remain in their natural condition in relation to their pre-European distribution.

Covenant A voluntary legal undertaking by a landowner registered on the land title for the purposes of protection of some nominated value or condition of the land.

Ecosystem A unique unit comprising a recognisable floristic composition in combination with substrate (lithology/geology layers) and position within the landscape, and including their component biota (where known).

An ecosystem map unit should normally be discriminated at a scale of 1:100,000 to 1:250,000.

Endangered A native species or ecosystem facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future – listed as endangered or critically endangered under Commonwealth, State or Territory legislation.

Endemic Restricted to a specified region or site.

Genetic diversity Variation in the genetic composition between individuals, populations or species.

IBRA Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia; a framework delineating “natural” regions or “landscape pattern” in each State and Territory which reflects the biophysical, environmental and vegetation factors (e.g. climate, lithology, landform, vegetation, flora and fauna and land use).

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Irreplaceability The potential contribution of any area to a reservation goal; and the extent to which the options for a representative reserve system are lost if that area is lost.

IUCN The World Conservation Union (formerly known as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

Off reserve All lands not currently within a gazetted protected area.

Protected area An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means (IUCN 1994).

Representativeness The principle that those areas that are selected for inclusion in protected areas reasonably reflect the biotic diversity of the ecosystems from which they derive.

Regional ecosystems Ecosystems, or a unique unit mapped at some appropriate scale, comprising a recognisable floristic composition in combination with substrate (lithology/geology layers) and position in the landscape, and including their component biota

Revolving Fund Land of conservation significance is purchased initially with capital funds, but is then placed under covenant and sold on to sympathetic purchasers, thereby releasing funds for new purchases.

Subregion Breakup of IBRA5 regions on basis of differences in vegetation and physical environment (geology; geomorphology etc)

Threatened species or A species or ecological community that is vulnerable, endangered or presumedecological community extinct. Ecological community is the living component of an ecosystem.

Threatening processes Limiting factors that threaten, or may threaten, the survival, abundance or evolutionary development of a native species or ecological community.

Viability The likelihood of long-term survival of the example/population of a particular ecosystem or species.

Vulnerability The predisposition of an area to a threatening process. Vulnerability can be expressed in terms of (1) the likelihood of an area being affected by the process; or (2) the timeframe over which the area will be affected. Threatening processes could potentially include land clearing, logging and rising saline water tables. Vulnerability is a fundamental consideration in conservation planning given that the basic purpose of conservation areas is to separate elements of biodiversity from processes that threaten their persistence in situ.

Vulnerable Species or ecosystem subject to vulnerability and listed as such under Commonwealth, State or Territory legislation.

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ANZECC (1998) Guidelines for Establishing the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Taskforce on Marine Protected Areas. Environment Australia, Canberra.

ANZECC (1999a) Strategic Plan of Action for the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas: A Guide for Action by Australian Governments. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Taskforce on Marine Protected Areas. Environment Australia, Canberra

ANZECC (1999b) Australian Guidelines for Establishing the National Reserve System. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, National Reserve System Scientific Taskforce. Environment Australia, Canberra

ANZECC (1999c) National Framework for the Management and Monitoring of Australia’s Native Vegetation. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council. Environment Australia, Canberra.

ANZECC (2002) A Review of Current Approaches to Performance Measurement in Protected Area Management. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Australian Academy of Science (1968) National Parks and Reserves in Australia. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra.

Australian Academy of Science (1969) Proposal to establish a biological survey of Australia. Aust. J. Science 31: 377-382.

Commonwealth of Australia (1992) National Forest Policy Statement. Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, Canberra.

Commonwealth of Australia (1996) National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity. Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, Canberra.

Commonwealth of Australia (1997a) Interim Scientific Guidelines for Establishing the National Reserve System. Biodiversity Group. Environment Australia, Canberra.

Commonwealth of Australia (1997b) Nationally Agreed Criteria for the Establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System for Forests in Australia. A Report by the Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee. Canberra.

Driml S and Common M (1997) Economic and Financial Benefits of Tourism in major Protected Areas. Australian Journal of Environmental Management 2(2), 19-39.

Edwards, R. & Traill, B. (2002) Getting beyond field days: targeting extension to protect threatened ecosystems on private land. Ecological Management & Restoration 3, 229-231.

Fenner F (ed.) (1975) A National; System of Ecological Reserves in Australia. Australian Academy of Science Report No. 19 . Australian Academy of Science, Canberra.

Fitzsimons, J.A. (2004) The Contribution of Multi-tenure Reserve Networks to Biodiversity Conservation. Unpublished PhD thesis. School of Ecology & Environment, Deakin University, Melbourne.

Fitzsimons, J.A. & Ashe, C. (2003) Some recent strategic additions to Victoria’s protected area system 1997-2002. Victorian Naturalist 120, 98-108.

Fitzsimons, J.A. & Wescott, G. (2005) History and attributes of selected Australian multi-tenure reserve networks. Australian Geographer 36, 75-93.

Hocking M, Stolton S and Dudley N (2000) Evaluating Effectiveness: A Framework for Assessing the Management of Protected Areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge.

IUCN (1992) Caracas Action Plan: Declaration and conclusions of the IVth World Congress on National

References

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Parks and Protected Areas, Caracas Venezuela February 1992. IUCN Programme on Protected Areas/CNPPA, Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN (1994) Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas with the assistance of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Madden, JR, Thapa, PJ, Giesecke, JAD (2000) The Contribution of the Parks and Wildlife Service’s Estate to the Tasmanian Economy in 1998/99, Department of Primary Industry Water and Environment.

Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (2004) National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan 2004-2007, Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra.

NLWRA (2002) The Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

NSW NPWS (1997) Best Practice Report – Stakeholder Management (Neighbour Relations), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

NSW NPWS (2001) The Contribution of Sturt National Park, Kinchega National Park and Mutawintji National Park to Regional Economic Development. NPWS Environmental Economic Series, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.

Powell R and Chalmers L. (1995) Regional Economic Impact: Gibraltar Range and Dorrigo National Parks: A report of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS Environmental Economic Series, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.

Specht RL, Roe EM and Boughton VH (1974) Conservation of major plant communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Aust. J. Bot. Suppl. Ser. 7: 1-667.

Thackway R (1989) The National Index of Ecosystems of Australia – an approach taken and the problems encountered. Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, Canberra. 25.

Thackway R and Cresswell I (eds.) (1995) An Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia: a Framework for Establishing the National System of Reserves, Version 4.0. Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra.

Worboys G, Lockwood M and De Lacy T (eds.) (2001) Protected Area Management: Principles and Practice, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

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Summary and objectives of IUCN Protected Area Management Categories

CATEGORY Ia; Strict Nature Reserve: Protected Area managed mainly for science

Area of land and/or sea possessing some outstanding or representative ecosystems, geological or physiological features and/or species, available primarily for scientific research and/or environmental monitoring.

Objectives:

to preserve habitats, ecosystems and species in as undisturbed state as possible; to maintain genetic resources in a dynamic and revolutionary state; to maintain established ecological processes; to safeguard structural landscape features or rock exposures; to secure examples of the natural environment for scientific studies, environmental monitoring and education, including baseline areas from which all avoidable access is excluded; to minimise disturbance by careful planning and execution of research and other approved activities; to limit public access.

CATEGORY Ib; Wilderness Area: Protected Area managed mainly for wilderness protection

Large area of unmodified or slightly modified land and/or sea, retaining its natural character and influence, without permanent or significant habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural condition.

Objectives:

to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to experience understanding and enjoyment of areas that have been largely undisturbed by human action over a long period of time; to maintain the essential natural attributes and qualities of the environment over the long term; to provide for public access at levels and

of a type which will serve best the physical and spiritual well-being of visitors and maintain the wilderness qualities of the area for present and future generations; to enable indigenous human communities living at low density and in balance with the available resources to maintain their lifestyle.

CATEGORY II; National Park: Protected Area managed mainly for ecosystem conservation and recreation

Natural area of land and/or sea, designated to (a) protect the ecological integrity of one or more ecosystems for this and future generations, (b) exclude exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation of the area and (c) provide a foundation for spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities, all of which must be environmentally and culturally compatible.

Objectives:

to protect natural and scenic areas on national and international significance for spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational or tourist purposes; to perpetuate, in as natural a state as possible, representative examples of physiographic regions, biotic communities, genetic resources, and species, to provide ecological stability and diversity; to manage visitor use for inspirational, educational, cultural and recreational purposes at a level which will maintain the area in a natural state or near natural state; to eliminate and thereafter prevent exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation; to maintain respect for the ecological, geomorphologic, sacred and aesthetic attributes which warranted designation; and to take into account the needs of indigenous people, including subsistence, in so far as these will not adversely affect the other objectives of management.

Appendix 1

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CATEGORY III; Natural Monument: Protected Area managed for conservation of specific natural features

Area containing one or more specific natural or natural/cultural feature which is of outstanding value because of its inherent rarity, representative or aesthetic qualities or cultural significance.

Objectives:

to protect or preserve in perpetuity specific outstanding natural features because of their natural significance, unique or representational quality, and/or spiritual connotations; to an extent consistent with the foregoing objective, to provide opportunities for research, education, interpretation and public appreciation; to eliminate and thereafter prevent exploitation or occupation inimical to the purpose of designation; and to deliver to any resident population such benefits as are consistent with the other objectives of management.

CATEGORY IV; Habitat/Species Management Area: Protected Area managed mainly for conservation through management intervention

Area of land and/or sea subject to active intervention for management purposes so as to ensure the maintenance of habitats and/or to meet the requirements of specific species.

Objectives:

to secure and maintain the habitat conditions necessary to protect significant species, groups of species, biotic communities or physical features of the environment where these require specific human manipulation for optimum management; to facilitate scientific research and environmental monitoring as primary activities associated with sustainable resource management; to develop limited areas for public education and appreciation of the characteristics of the habitats concerned and of the work of wildlife management; to eliminate and thereafter prevent exploitation or occupation

inimical to the purposes of designation; and to deliver such benefits to people living within the designated areas as are consistent with the other objectives of management.

CATEGORY V; Protected Landscape/Seascape: Protected Areas managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation

Area of land, with coast and seas as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, cultural and/or ecological value, and often with high biological diversity. Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.

Objectives:

To maintain the harmonious interaction of nature and culture through the protection of landscape and/or seascape and the continuation of traditional land uses, building practices and social and cultural manifestations; to support lifestyles and economic activities which are in harmony with nature and the preservation of the social and cultural fabric of the communities concerned; to maintain the diversity of landscape and habitat, and of associated species and ecosystems; to eliminate where necessary, and thereafter prevent, land uses and activities that are inappropriate in scale and/or character; to provide opportunities for public enjoyment through recreation and tourism appropriate in type and scale to the essential qualities of the areas; to encourage scientific and educational activities which will contribute to the long term well-being of resident populations and to the development of public support for the environmental protection of such areas; and to bring benefits to, and to contribute to the welfare of, the local community through the provision of natural products (such as forest and fisheries products) and services (such as clean water or income derived from sustainable forms of tourism).

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CATEGORY VI; Managed Resource Protected Areas: Protected Area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems

Area containing predominantly unmodified natural systems, managed to ensure long term protection and maintenance of biological diversity, while providing at the same time a sustainable flow of natural products and services to meet community needs.

Objectives:

to protect and maintain the biological diversity and other natural values of the area in the long term; to promote sound management practices for sustainable production purposes; to protect the natural resource base from being alienated for other land-use purposes that would be detrimental to the area’s biological diversity; and to contribute to regional and national development.

Source: IUCN (1994) Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas with the assistance of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

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