Protected Areas in Australia
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is the principal Commonwealth legislation for establishing and managing protected areas. The Director of National Parks is a corporation established under the Act, with the function of managing Commonwealth reserves. The Director is assisted in performing this function by the staff of Parks Australia (a division of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities).
Parks Australia supports the Director of National Parks, the federal park agency, in conserving Australia's biodiversity and cultural heritage. We manage the Commonwealth's terrestrial protected areas, including six national parks (three jointly managed with their traditional owners) and two botanic gardens. The national parks range from tiny Pulu-Keeling, a pristine atoll far out in the Indian Ocean, to the iconic World-Heritage-listed Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta and the award winning Booderee National Parks.
Parks Australia also helps build the National Reserve System, Australia's great environmental partnership, and supports Indigenous landholders declare Indigenous Protected Areas in some of the most remote and fragile parts of the country.
Parks Australia sits within the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
Marine Protected Areas
The majority of Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas declared under the EPBC Act are managed by the Marine Division of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities under delegation from the Director of National Parks. The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is managed by the Australian Antarctic Division under delegation from the Director.
These parks and reserves, which are located generally in remote areas, protect tropical islands as well as cays and temperate and sub-Antarctic marine environments.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under separate legislation.
Indigenous Protected Areas
Indigenous Australians have managed their country for tens of thousands of years. An Indigenous Protected Area is an area of Indigenous-owned land or sea where traditional owners have entered into an agreement with the Australian Government to promote biodiversity and cultural resource conservation. Indigenous Protected Areas make a significant contribution to Australian biodiversity conservation - making almost 25 per cent of Australia's National Reserve System.
About Australia's Heritage
Heritage includes places, values, traditions, events and experiences that capture where we've come from, where we are now and gives context to where we are headed as a community.
Significant heritage places are identified and grouped (by type) into lists that guide the protection and management of heritage values (World Heritage, National Heritage, Indigenous Heritage, Commonwealth Heritage, Historic Shipwrecks, Movable Cultural Heritage, Overseas Places of Historic Significance).
Sources: Australian Government - Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities - Parks Australia - Australian Antarctic Division - Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
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