Conservation in Australia

Conservation issues

Main article: Environmental issues in Australia

A key conservation issue is the preservation of biodiversity, especially by protecting the remaining rainforests. The destruction of habitat by human activities, including land clearing, remains the major cause of biodiversity loss in Australia. The importance of the Australian rainforests to the conservation movement is very high. Australia is the only western country to have large areas of rainforest intact. Forests provide timber, drugs, and food and should be managed to maximize the possible uses. Currently, there are a number of environmental movements and campaigners advocating for action on saving the environment, one such campaign is the Big Switch.

Land management issues including clearance of native vegetation, reafforestation of once-cleared areas, control of exotic weeds and pests, expansion of dryland salinity, and changed fire regimes. Intensification of resource use in sectors such as forestry, fisheries, and agriculture are widely reported to contribute to biodiversity loss in Australia. Habitat fragmentation is one of the most important factors affecting the persistence of species. Coastal and marine environments also have reduced biodiversity from reduced water quality caused by pollution and sediments arising from human settlements and agriculture. In central New South Wales where there are large plains of grassland, problems have arisen from—unusual to say—lack of land clearing.

Shark culling (the killing of sharks) currently occurs in New South Wales and Queensland (in government "shark control" programs). These programs have damaged the marine ecosystem. Roughly 50,000 sharks have been killed by Queensland authorities since 1962, including in the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland's "shark control" program has been called "outdated, cruel and ineffective". The "shark control" programs in New South Wales and Queensland have killed thousands of animals, such as turtles and dolphins. In 2018, the Humane Society International filed a lawsuit against the government of Queensland to stop shark culling in the Great Barrier Reef.

The protection of the iconic Wollemi Pine is an important conservation issue because the tree is one of the rarest in the world. There are only 46 mature individual trees remaining in the wild. The small grove of unusual conifers in a remote canyon are threatened due to its highly restricted distribution, extremely small population size, the ongoing impacts from exotic pathogens, inappropriate fire regimes, unauthorized site visitation and climate change.

Specific issues:

• Blue Gum Forest
• Fraser Island
• Franklin Dam
• Lake Pedder
• Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park
• Plight of the Murray River system

Legal framework

Conservation of the natural environment in Australia is derived from five different sources of law, namely international law, federal law, State law and local government law as well as the application of the common law.

International environmental law

International agreements that affect conservation policy in Australia.

Federal law

The primary federal law is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), usually referred to as the EPBC Act.

Protected areas

Main article: Protected areas of Australia

There are numerous protected areas in all States and Territories that have been created to protect and preserve Australia's unique ecosystems. Protected areas include national parks and other reserves, as well as 64 wetlands which are registered under the Ramsar Convention and 16 World Heritage Sites. , 10.8% (774,619.51 km2) of the total land area of Australia is within a protected area. Protected marine zones have been created in many areas to preserve marine biodiversity; as of 2002 they cover about 7% (646,000 km2) of Australia's marine jurisdiction. In Australia forest cover is around 17% of the total land area, equivalent to 134,005,100 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 133,882,200 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 131,614,800 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 2,390,300 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 18% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 67% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership, 32% private ownership and 1% with ownership listed as other or unknown.

Protected areas of include those managed by the federal Department of the Environment and Energy, and national parks and other protected areas managed by the states, Agencies responsible for protected areas include:

• Director of National Parks
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
• New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change
• Parks Victoria
• Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
• Department of Environment and Water (South Australia)
• Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia)
• Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
• Chief Minister's Department (Australian Capital Territory)
• Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory

Threatened species

Main article: Threatened fauna of Australia

Conservation organisations

A number of governmental and non-governmental organisations work in the conservation and restoration of the Australian environment.

• Australian Conservation Foundation
• Australian Koala Foundation
• Australian Marine Conservation Society
• Australian Native Plants Society
• Australian Rainforest Conservation Society
• Australian Wildlife Society
• Australian Wildlife Conservancy
• Banksia Environmental Foundation
• BirdLife Australia
• Bush Heritage Australia
• Capricorn Conservation Council
• Capricorn Coast Landcare Group
• Clean Up Australia
• Conservation Volunteers Australia
• Environment Tasmania
• Emu Park Bushcare Group
• Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife
• Green Corps
• Greening Australia
• Gladstone Conservation Council
• Invertebrates Australia
• Landcare Australia
• Land for Wildlife
• Lockyer Uplands Catchments
• National Parks Australia Council
• Natural Heritage Trust Australia
• Nature Conservation Council of NSW
• Nature Foundation
• North Brisbane Catchments
• NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service
• OzFish Unlimited
• Planet Ark
• Queensland Conservation Council
• Queensland Trust for Nature (see Avoid Island)
• Queensland Water & Land Carers
• Rainforest Rescue
• Sustainable Population Australia
• Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Service
• Wilderness Society
• Trees for Life
• Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland
• Wildlife Warriors
• World Wide Fund for Nature#WWF-Australia

References

References

1. (1999). "Microorganisms, Australia and the Convention on Biological Diversity". Biodiversity & Conservation.
2. (December 2017). "Plant conservation in Australia: Current directions and future challenges". Plant Diversity.
3. McIntyre, Iain. (2020-11-04). "Environmental Blockading in Australia and Around the World - Timeline 1974-1997".
4. ''Our Rainforests and the issues'' by Beryl Morris, Tondy Sadler and Graham N. Harrington. 1992. [[CSIRO]]. {{ISBN. 0-643-05141-4
5. "The Big Switch".
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20181002102324/https://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/shark-culling.html "Shark Culling". marineconservation.org.au. Archived from the original on 2018-10-02. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
7. https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/aussie-shark-population-is-staggering-decline/news-story/49e910c828b6e2b735d1c68e6b2c956e ''Aussie shark population in staggering decline.'' Rhian Deutrom. December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
8. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/queensland-government-kills-sharks-faces-court-challenge ''"Queensland Government Kills Sharks, Faces Court Challenge"''. maritime-executive.com. September 4, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
9. http://www.afd.org.au/news-articles/queenslands-shark-control-program-has-snagged-84000-animals Action for Dolphins. Queensland’s Shark Control Program Has Snagged 84,000 Animals. Thom Mitchell. November 20, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
10. (2022). "Imperiled: The Encyclopedia of Conservation".
11. Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. [http://www.deh.gov.au/parks/nrs/capad/2002/national/nat-type02.html Summary of Terrestrial Protected Areas in Australia by Type] {{Webarchive. link. (2006-09-13
    )
12. Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. [http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/mpa/nrsmpa/about.html#status About the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA)] {{Webarchive. link. (2005-07-18)
13. (2023). "Terms and Definitions FRA 2025 Forest Resources Assessment, Working Paper 194". Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
14. "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, Australia".
15. [https://cccqld.org.au/ cccqld.org.au]
16. [http://www.et.org.au/ ET]
17. [http://www.invertebratesaustralia.org/ Invertebrates Australia]
18. [https://www.lockyeruplandscatchmentsinc.org.au/ Lockyer Uplands Catchments Inc]
19. [http://www.npac.org.au/ NPAC]
20. [https://northbrisbanecatchments.org/ North Brisbane Catchments]
21. [https://ozfish.org.au/ OZFish Unlimited]
22. [https://www.queenslandconservation.org.au/ QCC]
23. [http://www.rainforestrescue.org.au Rainforest Rescue]