Marine Protected Areas

National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas

What is the NRSMPA?

In 1991 the Australian Government initiated a long term marine conservation program to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of Australia's marine and estuarine environments. A key component of this initiative was a commitment to expand Australia's existing marine reserve system through the establishment of a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA).

Australia's Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory governments are working together to implement the NRSMPA.

The establishment of a representative system of protected areas is one of the most effective mechanisms for protecting biodiversity. Linked networks of marine protected areas are more resilient to human pressures than isolated, individual marine protected areas.

Marine areas that are selected for inclusion in the NRSMPA reflect the biotic diversity of Australia's marine ecosystems. Marine protected areas provide a level of comprehensive protection to ensure the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities.

Australia aims to realise its international commitments as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity through the significant expansion of its existing MPA network throughout Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2012

There are over 200 MPAs in Australian Waters. That equates to a total NRSMPA estate covering approximately 88 million hectares or 10% of Australia's EEZ, excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Marine Protected Areas in Australia

Objectives of the NRSMPA

The primary goal of the NRSMPA is to establish and manage a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine protected areas to contribute to the long-term ecological viability of marine and estuarine systems, to maintain ecological processes and systems, and to protect Australia's biological diversity at all levels.

The following secondary goals are designed to be compatible with the primary goal

The goals of the NRSMPA relate primarily to the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable and equitable management of human usage. However, the marine protected areas that make up the NRSMPA may also protect and manage many other important geological, archaeological, historical and cultural attributes.

Policy basis of the NRSMPA

The establishment of the NRSMPA helps to implement international and national agreements and strategies.

International agreements and strategies

The NRSMPA helps to meet Australia's responsibilities and obligations as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the major components of the Jakarta Mandate developed under that Convention. Australia signed the Convention on World Environment Day, 5 June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and subsequently ratified it on 18 June 1993. It came into force on 29 December 1993.

The Convention requires all member nations to, among other things, establish a system of protected areas and to develop guidelines for the selection, establishment and management of protected areas. The Convention recognises that protected areas are not the only mechanism for conserving biodiversity but that they are an important element of the overall approach. The Convention introduced the phrase 'comprehensive, adequate and representative' (CAR) reserves.

Concern about the over-exploitation of marine biodiversity resulted in the marine environment being one of the first significant issues to be addressed by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In Jakarta 1995, at a Conference of the Parties to Convention on Biological Diversity, Australia signed the Jakarta Mandate on Marine and Coastal Biological Diversity. The Mandate focused on the relationships between conservation, the use of biological diversity and fishing activities and formed a valuable part of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Establishment of the NRSMPA also contributes to the development of a Global Representative System of Marine Protected Areas.

National agreements and strategies

The NRSMPA supports national commitments under the Inter-governmental Agreement on the Environment (1992). This Agreement made a commitment to the establishment of representative marine protected areas. The national commitments under the Agreement are implemented through national actions and strategies such as:

The main goals of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity are to protect biological diversity and to maintain ecological processes and systems. The Strategy states that central to the conservation of Australia's biological diversity is the principal that:

the establishment of a comprehensive, representative and adequate system of ecologically viable protected areas integrated with the sympathetic management of all other areas, including agricultural and other resource production systems.

In the marine environment the NRSMPA is a centrepiece of a national approach to the conservation of marine ecosystems, habitats and species forming part of an integrated strategy for marine conservation and management.

Australia's Oceans Policy (1999) outlines commitments and actions to the ongoing establishment of the NRSMPA for conservation purposes and to give regional security for industry access to ocean resources and their sustainable use. The integration of environmental, economic, social and cultural ocean uses are fundamental to the broad principles established in the Oceans Policy.

Principles used to establish the NRSMPA

Key characteristics define the marine protected areas that form the NRSMPA, as compared to the other marine managed areas. They are that the marine protected area:

Area management operates at a range of scales across the marine environment for a variety of primary purposes. Many managed marine areas that also benefit biodiversity conservation are not included in the NRSMPA. Examples of the types of marine managed areas that are not included in the NRSMPA are some indigenous protected areas, some areas established to protect fish habitats, and some areas under cooperative management arrangements with industry.

Biosphere Reserves, established under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program, contribute to biodiversity conservation and core areas could be included in the NRSMPA as protected areas.

Principles for developing the NRSMPA

Regional framework: The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA) provides the national and regional planning framework for developing the NRSMPA, with ecosystems used as the basis for determining representativeness.

Comprehensiveness: The NRSMPA will include the full range of ecosystems recognized at an appropriate scale within and across each bioregion.

Adequacy: The NRSMPA will have the required level of reservation to ensure the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities.

Representativeness: Those marine areas that are selected for inclusion in MPAs should reasonably reflect the biotic diversity of the marine ecosystems from which they derive.

Highly protected areas: The NRSMPA will aim to include some highly protected areas (IUCN Categories I and II) in each bioregion.

Precautionary principle: The absence of scientific certainty should not be a reason for postponing measures to establish marine protected areas to protect representative ecosystems. If an activity is assessed as having a low risk of causing serious or irreversible adverse impacts, or if there is insufficient information with which to assess fully and with certainty the magnitude and nature of impacts, decision making should proceed in a conservative and cautious manner.

Consultation: The processes of identification and selection of marine protected areas will include effective and high quality public consultation with appropriate community and interest groups, to address current and future social, economic and cultural issues.

Indigenous involvement: The interests of Australia's indigenous people should be recognised and incorporated in decision making.

Decision making: Decision making processes should effectively integrate both long term and short term environmental, economic, social and equity considerations.

NRSMPA publications

Strategic Plan of Action

The Strategic Plan of Action for the NRSMPA integrated the policy and planning framework and outlined a set of actions to achieve the goals of the NRSMPA. Government ministers of the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council endorsed the Plan in July 1999. The Plan provided a guide to understanding the NRSMPA by defining it in the context of an array of existing mechanisms and agreements that promote the conservation of Australia's marine biodiversity. The Plan concentrated on the establishment of NRSMPA, including performance assessment for the System, and a set of actions that reflect both national intention and government priorities. The Plan is a long-term national blueprint.

Guidelines for Establishing the NRSMPA

The Guidelines for Establishing the NRSMPA were prepared to assist government agencies in developing the NRSMPA and to help stakeholders understand this process. Government ministers of the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council endorsed the Guidelines on 11 December 1998. The Guidelines deal with key aspects of the establishment of marine protected areas including the functions of the NRSMPA and criteria for identifying and selecting marine protected areas. The Guidelines continue to be used by each jurisdiction to reinforce the national commitment to establishing the NRSMPA