Christmas Island National Park Management
Parks Australia, within the Australian Government Department of Environment and Water Resources is responsible for administering the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) on Christmas Island and managing the park for the Director of National Parks in accordance with the Act and the park Management Plan.
Parks Australia has an office at Drumsite with a staff of seventeen, including the Government Conservator, and is adjacent to the Christmas Island Minesite to Forest Rehabilitation Program (CIMFR) plant nursery, behind the lookout above Flying Fish Cove.
National Parks are protected areas of land and/or sea managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation. The EPBC Act establishes that reserves must be managed in accordance with the IUCN - The World Conservation Union (Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas) Guidelines as prescribed for each IUCN Category.
Christmas Island is formally listed as a category 2 IUCN protected area - National Park.
The park is managed:
- to protect natural and scenic areas of national and international significance for spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational or tourist purposes:
- to perpetuate, in as natural state as possible, representational examples of physiographic regions, biotic communities, genetic resources and species, and to provide ecological stability and diversity.
- to manage visitor use for inspirational, educational, cultural and recreational purposes at a level which will maintain an area in a natural or near natural state; to eliminate and thereafter prevent exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation,
- to maintain respect for the ecological, geomorphological, sacred or aesthetic attributes which warranted designation.
Relatively undisturbed natural areas are an increasingly scarce resource in the context of a globally expanding population. The island's unique tropical rainforest, large variety of endemic plants and animals, extensive coral reefs and spectacular landscapes are outstanding natural features. Maximising the opportunity for people to appreciate this, without damaging the environment or degrading the individual's experience, is a significant management challenge.