Report urges greater effort for Australia's parks
10 Nov 2006
Australia must urgently boost its funding for national parks and reserves if it is to meet key biodiversity protection targets set by State and Federal governments a year ago, a new report by WWF-Australia says.
The report, entitled Building Nature's Safety Net, provides a State by State comparison of Australia's national reserve system and has found that current funding falls far short of the amount required to reach agreed targets for the protection of key ecosystems in Australia.
The targets agreed to in 2005 are designed to protect the range of ecosystems within Australia's national parks and reserves and to ensure these parks and reserves capture the diversity of habitats in Australia.
The report found that despite a substantial increase in the land area of Australia's reserve system, funding for the establishment of new protected areas had been insufficient to meet the agreed targets.
"Australian, State and Territory governments need to invest about $400 million over the next five years to achieve the targets they set themselves in 2005," says Dr Martin Taylor, WWF-Australia's Protected Areas Policy Manager.
The report assessed the progress of States and Territories against three measures - the degree to which key ecosystems are represented in reserves, the size of the reserve system within each State, and the average standard of reserve management for the State or Territory.
It found that progress was uneven among the States and Territories, with the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia rating below average on the report card against the three measures.
"There is already a strong commitment by all governments to the reserve system. Now we urgently need a major leap in funding to meet the agreed targets," Dr Taylor said.
"Land prices are rising, threats like climate change are growing and opportunities are being lost for acquiring important new national parks and other reserves."
The report found that strategic land purchases under the national reserve program were highly cost-effective, costing the Australian government as little as $10.61 per hectare on average. This makes it the strongest performing terrestrial program of the Natural Heritage Trust.
"The Australian Government has a key leadership role to play by boosting funding for reserve acquisition. The good news is that strategic purchase is cost-effective and the funding needed to meet agreed targets is quite modest as a result," Dr Taylor said.
Building Nature's Safety Net is dedicated to the memories of Dr Jill Bowling and Steve Irwin.
Find out more
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1274
Mobile: 0424 649 689
Email: cstevens@wwf.org.au
Dr Martin Taylor, Protected Areas Policy Manager, WWF-Australia
Phone: 07 3839 4361
Mobile: 0406 384 289
