Disclaimer
Key departmental publications, e.g. annual reports, budget papers and program guidelines are available in our online archive.
Much of the material listed on these archived web pages has been superseded, or served a particular purpose at a particular time. It may contain references to activities or policies that have no current application. Many archived documents may link to web pages that have moved or no longer exist, or may refer to other documents that are no longer available.
To establish a baseline position from which to determine priorities and targets for biodiversity conservation, it is useful to have access to the tools that can help your council identify the condition and extent of existing remnant vegetation, wildlife corridors, species and known habitat within your local area.
Natural Resource Information, Databases and Mapping
On a Commonwealth and State level, much research and data collection has been undertaken to allow for the assessment and greater understanding of Australia's biodiversity. The links below connect you to vegetation and biodiversity maps.
Commonwealth
- Geoscience Australia provides digital maps, satellite images, aerial photographs, printed maps and datasets.
- The Australian Natural Resources Atlas and Data Library is a comprehensive natural resource information system, providing access to data, reports, maps and map-making for the region selected.
- Australia’s Biogeographical Regions: The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a framework for conservation planning and sustainable resource management within a bioregional context. IBRA regions represent a landscape based approach to classifying the land surface from a range of continental data on environmental attributes.
- A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia
- ABIF - Fauna features databases containing an array of information on the animal species of Australia.
- ABIF - Flora provides comprehensive information on all algae, bryophytes, fungi, lichens and vascular plants known to occur in Australia.
- Australia's Ramsar Sites Database
- Australian Botany Pages: plant information, data and resources from the Department of the Environment and Heritage and CSIRO
- Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) provides environmental information including species distributions, documents, maps and satellite imagery.
- Key to Eucalypts of Southern Australia (Euclid)
- Key to Acacias of Australia (Wattle)
- Waterwatch Database
New South Wales
- The Community Access to Natural Resources Information (CANRI) provides integrated access to maps and other natural resource data from NSW Government agencies and other organisations.
- The FaunaKeys, provided by the Australia Museum, is a useful guide for the identification of selected invertebrate and vertebrate groups.
South Australia
Tasmania
- Parks and Wildlife Service GIS website provides details of vegetation distribution across Tasmania. Please note that, in the near future, access to this site may be subject to the establishment of licensing agreements with users.
Western Australia
- WALIS - Western Australia Atlas provides a variety of digitised layers indicating general vegetation presence.
Queensland
Victoria
- Regional vegetation maps are available from the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
- BioMaps, user-definable maps showing biodiversity data are available from the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Contact the Customer Service Centre, phone: 136 186; email: customer.service@dse.vic.gov.au
- Victorian Resources online: gateway to a wide range of natural resource maps and associated information.
- The Environment Gateway: on-line gateway to Victoria’s environment. Provides access to on-line environmental information by connecting users to a range of government and other relevant websites publishing environmental information, data and reports.
Australia Capital Territory
- The Environment ACT web site provides information on threatened plants and animals, planning, catchment management and other environmental information for the ACT.
Northern Territory
Western Australia
- Bush Forever provides a strategic plan for the conservation of vegetation in and around Perth.
- Florabase and Faunabase provide access to information on vegetation and terrestrial vertebrates present in Western Australia. In some circumstances, a fee may be charged for use of the information.
Some previous extensive assessments and investigations have been conducted over wide regions of Australia. Both the data and methodology contained within these studies may become useful references should you council plan to follow a similar path for local information collection.
New South Wales
Interim Guidelines for Targeted and General Flora and Fauna Surveys under the Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997 (intergdl.pdf - 427 KB)
South Australia
Biological Surveys of Vegetation and Vertebrates (Dept for Environment & Heritage)
In identifying best practice biodiversity priorities for conservation, local government can take into account priorities identified at the Commonwealth, State and regional levels. These should include the following matters of national environmental significance as listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999:
- World Heritage values of World Heritage properties;
- Wetlands of international importance (Ramsar wetlands);
- Commonwealth listed threatened species and ecological communities;
- Listed migratory species;
- Commonwealth marine areas; and
- Nuclear actions.
See the Policy & Legislation page for further information about policies, plans and strategies relating to biodiversity conservation and natural resource management in your state.
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