Australia has an extensive system of protected areas dating back to 1879 when the Royal National Park was established near Sydney. Since then the system has grown to include nearly 12,500 sites, including sixteen natural/mixed World Heritage areas. Protected areas cover nearly 20% of the terrestrial and over 40% of the marine area of the country. These protected areas cover the full spectrum of IUCN Categories (see table) and governance types including a large system of private reserves. The majority of protected areas are managed by State governments who have the primary responsibility for land management. Protected areas under Indigenous governance, while relatively small in number, represent nearly half to the terrestrial reserve system by area. In addition, many government protected areas are co-managed with Indigenous people.
| Site Name | WDPA ID | Country | Region | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arakwal National Park | 309970 | Australia | Oceania | Listed |
| Cape Byron State Conservation Area | 309970 | Australia | Oceania | Listed |
| Montague Island Nature Reserve | 63136 | Australia | Oceania | Listed |
| Currawinya National Park | 62990 | Australia | Oceania | Candidate |
| Lamington National Park | 311888 | Australia | Oceania | Candidate |
| Warby-Ovens National Park | 555548807 | Australia | Oceania | Listed |
Expertise: Protected Area Management, Management effectiveness, Governance, Threatened Species Management
Andrea is a Director of a small consultancy; Protected Area Solutions. Projects she has been recently involved with include three iterations of management effectiveness of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (World Heritage Area), review of the Nature Refuge program in Queensland, review of the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby program, review of Indigenous Management Agreement for KULLA (Cape York), and development the Protected Area Policy for PNG. Andrea has extensive experience in conservation and natural resource agencies in Queensland and until 2012 was Head of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Andrea was responsible for the development and implementation of the Queensland Government’s protected area management policy in terrestrial and marine parks, covering both conservation management of these areas. Andrea’s role also covered the protection of wildlife, and oversaw the development of agreements with Traditional Owners for the joint management on protected areas in Cape York.
Andrea has extensive experience in natural resource management, including drafting legislation such as vegetation management controls and joint management arrangements between protected area managers and traditional owners in Cape York. Andrea’s PhD thesis focussed on threatened species in fragmented landscapes.
Heritage studies, tourism planning, community development and visitor management in protected areas, in particular in World Heritage sites – natural , cultural and mixed sites in Australia and SE Asia.
A long standing member of the WCPA I have served as former co-chair of the Tourism & PA Specialist Group; Executive member of WCPA Oceania; member of the Green List Advisory Group in Australia during the pilot. I have a sound understanding of natural heritage and biodiversity, Plans of Management for PAs and the responsibilities of State Parties in the nomination, management, monitoring and periodic reporting of World Heritage sites. I served 3 terms as Board Member for Booderee National Park, co-managed by Wreck Bay Indigenous community and Parks Australia; and 10 years on the Blue Mountains National Park and World Heritage Area Advisory Committee. I have undertaken reviews of Visitor Management aspects of PoM for WHS in Australia, and work closely with UNESCO in visitor impact assessment in SE Asia.
Experienced campaigner and advocate in Indigenous affairs, government policy and its relevant service delivery mechanisms, communication in Indigenous affairs
As the National Conservation on Country Manager – WWF Australia for the past decade Cliff has committed most of his time to developing partnerships with the first peoples of Australia. Being of Aboriginal descent and having worked for the Australian Government in a number of senior positions including as a Senior Director and an Indigenous Land Management Facilitator, he has experienced firsthand the issues, aspirations and concerns regarding the important and critical role first peoples have in the management of Australia’s unique landscapes. This includes assisting in establishing Indigenous Ranger Programs and supporting the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas.
Conservation biology, protected areas, evidence-based decision making, monitoring and evaluation
Carly is a Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology within the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University. Her research centres around evidence-based decision making, with a particular interest in protected area management. Her expertise includes understanding the use of evidence to inform conservation management decisions, including through the use of protected area management effectiveness evaluation. She is also part of a global research effort monitoring the loss of legal protection for protected areas – PADDD (protected area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement). Carly has a strong interested in effective models of knowledge exchange, stemming from her time working within protected area management agencies in Australia. Much of her research is devoted to developing decision support tools to help integrate evidence into management decisions.
Protected area policy, planning and operations
Bob has extensive experience at operational, managerial and executive levels in protected area management in NSW Australia, stretching over the last 40 years. Bob is now engaged in numerous community, peak stakeholder and governmental committees, reviews and inquiries; particularly in the areas of bushfire management, climate change and world heritage.
Park planning and management (terrestrial and marine), World Heritage,
Between 1975-2014, Jon was a protected area planner, natural resource manager and park ranger. For the first 11 years of his professional career, Jon worked in terrestrial national parks, including the Grampians and Kakadu. In 1986, Jon joined the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the federal agency responsible for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Over the next 28 years, Jon was involved in many aspects of planning and managing the GBR, including seven years in field management. In 1998, Jon was appointed as one of the Directors at GBRMPA, and for the following 16 years, was variously responsible for biodiversity conservation, park planning, heritage (particularly World Heritage), Indigenous Partnerships, the GBR rezoning (for which he was awarded a PSM) and commencing the first 5-yearly Outlook Report. Jon retired in 2014 and commenced a post-career PhD (part-time) at the ARC Centre for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.
protected area establishment, protected area policy, privately protected areas, private land conservation, connectivity conservation
James Fitzsimons is Director of Conservation (Australia Program) with The Nature Conservancy where he oversees the conservation planning, science, implementation and policy functions for that program. Previous he worked in conservation planning and protected area policy for government and non-government organisations. He is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University where he is involved in a number of cooperative research projects and has published widely on practical conservation planning, protected area and land use policy and legislation and wildlife ecology. He is a board member of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, Nature Conservation Water Fund, and Parks Victoria’s Scientific and Management Effectiveness Committee. He owns a 129 ha conservation covenant in central Victoria.
Indigenous-led and collaborative approaches to conservation
Cathy has worked for over twenty years on research that catalyses Indigenous-led approaches to achieve sustainable environmental management options and solutions. She has published over 70 academic publications in this area and enjoys applying her expertise to improve Indigenous-conservation partnerships to tackle the many complex issues facing Indigenous co-managed protected areas. This includes working in the IUCN Green Listed Arakwal National Park and the World Heritage Kakadu National park to enable Indigenous knowledge and values to inform the ways in which effective management is evaluated and enabled.
