Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 A separate creation: diversity, distinctiveness and conservation of Australian wildlife
- Chapter 2 New Zealand – a land apart
- Chapter 3 The ecological consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation in New Zealand and Australia
- Chapter 4 The impacts of climate change on Australian and New Zealand flora and fauna
- Chapter 5 Unwelcome and unpredictable: the sorry saga of cane toads in Australia
- Chapter 6 Invasive plants and invaded ecosystems in Australia: implications for biodiversity
- Chapter 7 Environmental weeds in New Zealand: impacts and management
- Chapter 8 The insidious threat of invasive invertebrates
- Chapter 9 Pollution by antibiotics and resistance genes: dissemination into Australian wildlife
- Chapter 10 Invasive vertebrates in Australia and New Zealand
- Chapter 11 Freshwaters in New Zealand
- Chapter 12 A garden at the edge of the world; the diversity and conservation status of the New Zealand flora
- Chapter 13 The evolutionary history of the Australian flora and its relevance to biodiversity conservation
- Chapter 14 Protecting the small majority: insect conservation in Australia and New Zealand
- Chapter 15 Terrestrial mammal diversity, conservation and management in Australia
- Chapter 16 Marine mammals, back from the brink? Contemporary conservation issues
- Chapter 17 Australian reptiles and their conservation
- Chapter 18 New Zealand reptiles and their conservation
- Chapter 19 Isolation, invasion and innovation: forces of change in the conservation of New Zealand birds
- Chapter 20 Australian birds: current status and future prospects
- Chapter 21 Austral amphibians – Gondwanan relicts in peril
- Chapter 22 Predators in danger: shark conservation and management in Australia, New Zealand and their neighbours
- Chapter 23 ‘Ragged mountain ranges, droughts and flooding rains’: the evolutionary history and conservation of Australian freshwater fishes
- Chapter 24 Down under Down Under: Austral groundwater life
- Chapter 25 Fire and biodiversity in Australia
- Chapter 26 Terrestrial protected areas of Australia
- Chapter 27 Australian marine protected areas
- Chapter 28 Marine reserves in New Zealand: ecological responses to protection and network design
- Chapter 29 Conclusion: conservation onboard Austral Ark needs all hands on deck
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Chapter 26 - Terrestrial protected areas of Australia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 A separate creation: diversity, distinctiveness and conservation of Australian wildlife
- Chapter 2 New Zealand – a land apart
- Chapter 3 The ecological consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation in New Zealand and Australia
- Chapter 4 The impacts of climate change on Australian and New Zealand flora and fauna
- Chapter 5 Unwelcome and unpredictable: the sorry saga of cane toads in Australia
- Chapter 6 Invasive plants and invaded ecosystems in Australia: implications for biodiversity
- Chapter 7 Environmental weeds in New Zealand: impacts and management
- Chapter 8 The insidious threat of invasive invertebrates
- Chapter 9 Pollution by antibiotics and resistance genes: dissemination into Australian wildlife
- Chapter 10 Invasive vertebrates in Australia and New Zealand
- Chapter 11 Freshwaters in New Zealand
- Chapter 12 A garden at the edge of the world; the diversity and conservation status of the New Zealand flora
- Chapter 13 The evolutionary history of the Australian flora and its relevance to biodiversity conservation
- Chapter 14 Protecting the small majority: insect conservation in Australia and New Zealand
- Chapter 15 Terrestrial mammal diversity, conservation and management in Australia
- Chapter 16 Marine mammals, back from the brink? Contemporary conservation issues
- Chapter 17 Australian reptiles and their conservation
- Chapter 18 New Zealand reptiles and their conservation
- Chapter 19 Isolation, invasion and innovation: forces of change in the conservation of New Zealand birds
- Chapter 20 Australian birds: current status and future prospects
- Chapter 21 Austral amphibians – Gondwanan relicts in peril
- Chapter 22 Predators in danger: shark conservation and management in Australia, New Zealand and their neighbours
- Chapter 23 ‘Ragged mountain ranges, droughts and flooding rains’: the evolutionary history and conservation of Australian freshwater fishes
- Chapter 24 Down under Down Under: Austral groundwater life
- Chapter 25 Fire and biodiversity in Australia
- Chapter 26 Terrestrial protected areas of Australia
- Chapter 27 Australian marine protected areas
- Chapter 28 Marine reserves in New Zealand: ecological responses to protection and network design
- Chapter 29 Conclusion: conservation onboard Austral Ark needs all hands on deck
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Summary
Australia has a long history of establishing protected areas and they are now the cornerstones of its national and regional conservation strategies, covering over 13% of the country. There are large regional variations in levels of coverage, with most large protected areas placed far from dense human populations and away from productive agricultural land. Most of the recent growth in coverage has been driven by Indigenous Protected Areas and private protected areas, a trend that is likely to increase in the future. It is difficult to say how effective protected areas are in conserving biodiversity due to shortcomings in monitoring and evaluation, but the data that exist show that biodiversity outcomes are variable and that management effectiveness could be substantially improved. Threats to the protected area system are currently increasing with strong government pressure to allow extractive industries, such as mining, logging and grazing, and damaging recreational uses such as hunting to occur on land that is currently protected. If this trend continues, the future holds a great deal of uncertainty for Australia’s protected areas.
Introduction
For centuries people all over the world have set aside places to which they ascribe special values. The reasons for this have been many and various but they are linked by a central purpose – to protect something that humankind perceives as valuable. Over the past century, as human populations have grown and their use of natural resources has increased, so the need to protect the remaining natural areas has also grown. Formally protected areas have become the centrepiece of the global strategy for nature conservation. These are areas where human activities are restricted and that are managed with the primary purpose of nature conservation (Dudley 2008). Australia is no exception in using protected areas as the cornerstones of its national and regional conservation strategies and is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD is an international legally binding treaty that commits Australia to achieving a number of conservation targets.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Austral ArkThe State of Wildlife in Australia and New Zealand, pp. 560 - 581Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
References
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