A wide range of activities are conducted in Australia’s protected areas. One factor to be considered in this context is that a significant part of the country’s income is generated by tourism,275 and that the country’s national parks and reserves are among its main tourist attractions. The most popular activities are bushwalking, wildlife tours, camping, kayaking and river cruises. Terrestrial and marine protected areas are enjoyed by foreign and local visitors alike. A significant number of these places are also important for Australian Indigenous peoples, and these communities and individual traditional owners are increasingly involved in protected areas management. Well-known areas such as the Great Barrier Reef, and the Uluru–Kata Tjuta, Kakadu and Blue Mountains National Parks are environmentally
269 See Pulsford et al., 2004.
270 For a map of the Alps to Atherton Initiative, see Department of Environment and Climate Change (New South Wales), 2007, p. 4.
271 Summarized from Worboys et al., 2010, p. 101. 272 Worboys et al., 2010, p.103.
273 Commonwealth of Australia 2009c, p. 30. 274 Commonwealth of Australia, undated.
275 Total international and national tourist consumption figures are in the order of $8 billion per annum; see Aus- tralian Bureau of Statistics, 2009.
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Australia impacted by fishing, bushwalking, climbing and other outdoor activities. The threat of annual fires is
also a major issue in most parks and reserves. One of the most important management challenges for Australia’s protected areas regime is to address both the need for recreation activities by users of protected areas and the environmental and cultural impact of these activities. It is therefore crucial to secure close cooperation between protected areas management authorities and tourism industry operators and user groups, to minimize the effects of recreational activities on protected areas, while not limiting the tourism industry and activities by individuals and groups more than necessary.276
14.1 Controlling activities in Commonwealth reserves
Activities in Commonwealth reserves can be controlled in a number of ways. As indicated above, a Proclamation must assign the reserve to a particular IUCN category, and that assignment affects how the reserve is managed and used.277 In general, activities cannot be conducted in a Commonwealth reserve unless permitted by a management plan. If no management plan is in place, the reserve must nevertheless be managed in a way that is appropriate for the category it has been assigned by Proclamation or by an earlier management plan.
Box 11: Controlling activities in a Commonwealth reserve
Section 356 of the EPBC Act provides for regulations to control the following activities in Commonwealth reserves:
• pollution of soil, air or water in a manner that is, or is likely to be, harmful to people, biodiversity, heritage or the natural features of Commonwealth reserves;
• tourism;
• protection and preservation of Commonwealth reserves and property and things in Commonwealth reserves;
• protection and conservation of biodiversity in Commonwealth reserves;
• access to all or part of a Commonwealth reserve;
• removal of trespassers;
• camping;
• public safety;
• use of fire;
• trade or commerce within a Commonwealth reserve;
• use of vehicles,
• removal and impounding of vehicles, aircraft or vessels from places where they have been left in contra- vention of the regulations or have been abandoned;
• use of vessels in, and the passage of vessels through, Commonwealth reserves;
• landing and use of aircraft in, and flying aircraft over, Commonwealth reserves;
• giving effect to management plans for Commonwealth reserves;
• taking of animals or plants into or out of Commonwealth reserves;
• impounding, removal, destruction or disposal of animals found straying in Commonwealth reserves;
• taking into Commonwealth reserves, and using in Commonwealth reserves, weapons, traps, nets, snares, fishing apparatus and other devices;
• laying of bait and the use of explosives and poisons;
• collection of specimens and the pursuit of research for scientific purposes;
• licences, permits and authorities relating to activities in Commonwealth reserves, conditions subject to which they are issued, and the charging of fees; and
• any matter incidental to or connected with a matter described in section 356.
276 See Commonwealth of Australia, 2004; and Australian Heritage Commission, 2001. 277 EPBC Act, s 342 ff.
The EPBC Act states:
(1) A person must not do one of the following acts in a Commonwealth reserve except in accordance with a management plan in operation for the reserve:
(a) kill, injure, take, trade, keep or move a member of a native species; or (b) damage heritage; or
(c) carry on an excavation; or
(d) erect a building or other structure; or (e) carry out works; or
(f) take an action for commercial purposes.278
The EPBC Act provides for detailed regulations to be made for specific activities, in addition to the provisions concerning the restrictions imposed by virtue of the IUCN categories (see Box 11). The Director of Parks has specified powers to prohibit or control specific activities, and to issue permits for activities that are otherwise prohibited.279 The Director performs these functions and exercises powers in accordance with the management plan and relevant decisions of the board of management of the particular reserve.280
Control of mining operations is also provided for. Mining cannot be carried out except in accordance with a management plan in operation for the reserve.281 Mining is completely prohibited in Kakadu National Park282 and in the Antarctic.283 Prior use rights held immediately before a property was included in a Commonwealth reserve are generally recognized.284
Box 12: Indigenous use in Commonwealth reserves
Section 359A of the EPBC Act provides:
359A Traditional use of Commonwealth reserves by indigenous persons
(1) This Division and regulations made for the purposes of this Division do not prevent an indig- enous person from continuing in accordance with law the traditional use of an area in a Com- monwealth reserve for:
(a) hunting or food-gathering (except for purposes of sale); or (b) ceremonial and religious purposes.
(2) However, regulations made for the purposes of this Division do affect an indigenous person’s traditional use of an area in a Commonwealth reserve if they:
(a) are made for the purpose of conserving biodiversity in the area; and (b) expressly affect the traditional use of the area by indigenous persons.
The EPBC Act includes special provisions relating to the traditional use of Commonwealth reserves by Indigenous peoples (see Box 12).285 The EPBC Regulations also provide for the authorization of activities by Indigenous peoples, by agreement between the Director of Parks and the relevant Aboriginal land council. These include entering an area to which access is restricted or prohibited; taking or keeping an organism that is a member of a native species; using a vehicle, vessel or aircraft in an area where such use would otherwise be prohibited; taking a dog into a Commonwealth reserve; taking firewood from a Commonwealth reserve; and carrying out a cultural activity in a Commonwealth reserve.286
278 EPBC Act, s 354(1).
279 EPBC Regulations, Division 12.
280 See for example Director of National Parks, 2007, p. 23. 281 EPBC Act, s 355 ff.
282 EPBC Act, s 387.
283 See Antarctic Treaty (Environment Protection) Act, ss 19A and 19B. 284 EPBC Act, s 359.
285 EPBC Act, s 359A.
286 EPBC Regulations, cl 12.08.
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Australia The Minister may also issue conservation orders to restrict or prohibit specified actions in a
“Commonwealth area”, or to require specified parties to act in order to protect listed threatened species or ecological communities.287
14.2 Controlling activities in other protected areas
Some protected areas within the boundaries of the states and territories also come under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth government if they are listed under conventions to which Australia is a party, particularly the World Heritage Convention and the Ramsar Convention. Areas listed under these conventions are covered by the IUCN reserve management principles set out in the EPBC Regulations. The Commonwealth government can take enforcement action against individuals or corporations in relation to offences concerning activities taking place within the states and territories, if the activities involve a transgression of Australia’s international obligations.288 In addition, such areas can be protected through conservation agreements (see Box 13).
Box 13: Conservation agreements
Section 305 of the EPBC Act provides:
305 Minister may enter into conservation agreements
(1) The Minister may, on behalf of the Commonwealth, enter into an agreement (a conservation agreement) with a person for the protection and conservation of all or any of the following: (a) biodiversity in the Australian jurisdiction;
(b) the world heritage values of a declared World Heritage property in the Australian jurisdiction; (c) the National Heritage values of a National Heritage place;
(d) the Commonwealth Heritage values of a Commonwealth Heritage place (whether inside or outside the Australian jurisdiction);
(e) the ecological character of a declared Ramsar wetland in the Australian jurisdiction; (f) the environment, in respect of the impact of a nuclear action in the Australian jurisdiction; (g) the environment in a Commonwealth marine area in the Australian jurisdiction;
(h) the environment on Commonwealth land in the Australian jurisdiction.