Protected areas and coherent ecological networks: the role of the world heritage convention in Australia

Wellington, A. B. and Atkins, R. W. (2001) Protected areas and coherent ecological networks: the role of the world heritage convention in Australia. [Proceedings Paper]

The World Heritage Convention aims to promote cooperation among nations to protect heritage from around the world which has such outstanding universal value that its conservation is important for all people. The Convention establishes a list of properties that have outstanding universal value, called the World Heritage List. State Parties to the Convention commit themselves to ensuring the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of places with World Heritage values. Australia has been a State Party to the World Heritage Convention since 1974 and a strong supporter and advocate of the Convention and its implementation ever since. Only two countries in the World, Australia and South Africa, have enacted domestic legislation to protect World Heritage. There are currently 13 World Heritage listed properties in Australia. All of these properties have been included on the World Heritage List for natural heritage values, and four of the properties have also been listed for indigenous cultural heritage values. The listed properties include globally outstanding examples of past and present natural geology, ecosystems and flora and fauna. As a result of their outstanding representation of natural ecosystems and flora and fauna, Australia's World Heritage properties make a major contribution to biodiversity conservation in national and international contexts. Many of Australia's World Heritage properties also have important ecological linkages with other natural areas, including protected areas. Planning and management initiatives attempt to maintain and enhance these linkages within a regional context to form coherent networks of natural ecosystems. These ecological networks, which include World Heritage properties, are important for conservation of biodiversity in local, regional and national contexts. An example is provided by the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, in the tropical regions of far north-east Australia. The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area comprises a range of land tenures including 19 national parks, parts of 31 state forests, five timber reserves and one Aboriginal and Islander reserve. These component areas are largely dominated by tropical rainforest. They are either contiguous or linked, providing the property with an important ecological coherence. There are also external connections to adjacent natural areas that act as buffers and habitat corridors and are important for maintaining the integrity of the natural ecosystems of the property and the region. The terrestrial ecological network which includes the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area also extends into the adjacent coastal and marine environments, thereby providing important ecological linkages between the land and the sea, and linking the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area includes the world's most extensive coral reef system and extends for more than 2,000 km from south of the Tropic of Capricorn to the tip of Cape York Peninsula. The reef system comprises 2,800 catalogued reefs within the property. Twenty percent of these are submerged reefs, 26% are fringing reefs around continental islands and parts of the mainland coast, and the remainder are shelf reef platforms of varying sizes. There are also more than 550 continental islands and at least 230 coral cays within the property. Management of the World Heritage properties to conserve their outstanding universal values, and regional planning and management initiatives to establish them as part of coherent ecological networks, make an important contribution to regional, national and international biodiversity conservation in Australia.

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Abstract

The World Heritage Convention aims to promote cooperation among nations to protect heritage from around the world which has such outstanding universal value that its conservation is important for all people. The Convention establishes a list of properties that have outstanding universal value, called the World Heritage List. State Parties to the Convention commit themselves to ensuring the identification, protection, conservation and presentation of places with World Heritage values. Australia has been a State Party to the World Heritage Convention since 1974 and a strong supporter and advocate of the Convention and its implementation ever since. Only two countries in the World, Australia and South Africa, have enacted domestic legislation to protect World Heritage. There are currently 13 World Heritage listed properties in Australia. All of these properties have been included on the World Heritage List for natural heritage values, and four of the properties have also been listed for indigenous cultural heritage values. The listed properties include globally outstanding examples of past and present natural geology, ecosystems and flora and fauna. As a result of their outstanding representation of natural ecosystems and flora and fauna, Australia's World Heritage properties make a major contribution to biodiversity conservation in national and international contexts. Many of Australia's World Heritage properties also have important ecological linkages with other natural areas, including protected areas. Planning and management initiatives attempt to maintain and enhance these linkages within a regional context to form coherent networks of natural ecosystems. These ecological networks, which include World Heritage properties, are important for conservation of biodiversity in local, regional and national contexts. An example is provided by the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, in the tropical regions of far north-east Australia. The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area comprises a range of land tenures including 19 national parks, parts of 31 state forests, five timber reserves and one Aboriginal and Islander reserve. These component areas are largely dominated by tropical rainforest. They are either contiguous or linked, providing the property with an important ecological coherence. There are also external connections to adjacent natural areas that act as buffers and habitat corridors and are important for maintaining the integrity of the natural ecosystems of the property and the region. The terrestrial ecological network which includes the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area also extends into the adjacent coastal and marine environments, thereby providing important ecological linkages between the land and the sea, and linking the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area includes the world's most extensive coral reef system and extends for more than 2,000 km from south of the Tropic of Capricorn to the tip of Cape York Peninsula. The reef system comprises 2,800 catalogued reefs within the property. Twenty percent of these are submerged reefs, 26% are fringing reefs around continental islands and parts of the mainland coast, and the remainder are shelf reef platforms of varying sizes. There are also more than 550 continental islands and at least 230 coral cays within the property. Management of the World Heritage properties to conserve their outstanding universal values, and regional planning and management initiatives to establish them as part of coherent ecological networks, make an important contribution to regional, national and international biodiversity conservation in Australia.

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Item Type:	Proceedings Paper
Additional Information:	Available at Perpustakaan Sultan Abdul Samad, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43000 UPM Serdang, Malaysia.Call Number QH75 A1I61 2000
AGROVOC Term:	protected areas
AGROVOC Term:	conventions
AGROVOC Term:	natural heritage
AGROVOC Term:	cultural heritage
AGROVOC Term:	ecology
AGROVOC Term:	biodiversity conservation
AGROVOC Term:	regional planning
Geographical Term:	Australia
Depositing User:	Ms. Azariah Hashim
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2024 07:20
Last Modified:	29 Aug 2024 07:21
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1120

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