Building natures safety net 2014: a decade of protected area achievements in Australia

The single most important asset for the conservation of Australia’s unique and globally significant biodiversity is the National Reserve System, a mosaic of over 10,000 discrete protected areas on land on all tenures: government, Indigenous and private, including on-farm covenants, as well as state, territory and Commonwealth marine parks and reserves.

Building Nature’s Safety Net series is an independent, non-government audit of protected area establishment and funding. The reports are based on information provided by jurisdictions, in particular the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database 2012 terrestrial and marine (CAPAD) compiled by the Australian Government in collaboration with state and territory governments. CCG partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to produce this fourth report in the series. 

In this report, we cover major National Reserve System initiatives that have occurred in the period 2002 to 2014 and highlight issues affecting progress toward agreed national objectives.

We define a minimum standard for the National Reserve System to comprehensively, adequately and representatively protect Australia’s ecosystem and species diversity on sea and land. Using government protected area, species and other relevant spatial data, we quantify gaps: those areas needing to move from the current National Reserve System to one which meets this standard. We also provide new estimates of financial investments in protected areas and of the benefits that protected areas secure for society.