Opportunity to improve Australian biodiversity

Replacing a small number of national parks and other protected areas with new ones that achieve more for conservation and biodiversity is the recommendation released today in the science journal Nature.

It is well known that national parks are often put in places that nobody else wants – places that are not useful for agriculture, cities or mining.

“Many of our protected areas are simply in the wrong places. Replacing only 70 of the weakest protected areas could allow 54 of Australia’s 60 vegetation types to be protected, rather than the current 18,” said Dr Richard Fuller, lead author of the study and researcher with The University of Queensland’s Ecology Centre and CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship.

“We wondered what would happen if we replaced a very small number of the least cost-effective sites with new ones that are better for conserving our biodiversity and we were amazed at how spectacular the results were.

"Because our study is based on swapping reserves, all this can be achieved without spending a single extra dollar on conservation," he said.

Study co-author Professor Hugh Possingham, Director of The Ecology Centre and a Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility, said enormous efficiency gains could be achieved by modest and careful adjustments to a protected area system.

"A more flexible approach to the expansion of a protected area system could ultimately protect much more biodiversity," Professor Possingham said.

"This is what international organisations like The Nature Conservancy already do."

Dr Fuller said protected areas formed a large part of Australia's conservation legacy to future generations.

"Handing down a healthy and well-reasoned set of sites is in our view the best way of justifying this investment,” Dr Fuller said.

The research was co-funded by an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship grant and a Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility grant to Professor Possingham.

Media: Dr Richard Fuller (04 5835 3102, r.fuller@uq.edu.au), Tracey Franchi, Manager – Communications, Outreach and Performance Data in the School of Biological Sciences (07 3365 4831, t.franchi@uq.edu.au) or Claire Harris, Climate Adaptation Flagship (Mb: 0428 116 185 E: claire.harris@csiro.au). [hugh possingham 0434 079 061 – UK time]

Statistics:
1. Protected area estate in Australia is 6,990 strictly protected sites covering 629,352km2 (~8% of Australia land mass).
2. Data were mapped using the National Vegetation Information System (Version 3.0; available at http://www.environment.gov.au)
3. Data compared the year 1750 (prior to widespread clearance by Europeans) and year 2000, across 60 vegetation types.