Protecting Nature’s Gifts

Dr Graeme L. Worboys AM is a former Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University & Bruce Gall is a former Director of the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.

This is the fifth article in an 8-part series discussing our nature’s gifts.

In our previous article on Ranger Guardians, we looked at how rangers manage and protect our nature’s gifts in parks and reserves. In this article, we take a wider view of conserving nature and consider international factors that drive this protection.

Australia ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993. It is the most wide-ranging of Australia’s environmental treaties, covering all our biodiversity.  Importantly, the CBD is legally binding; parties to the convention are obliged to implement its provisions.

Conventions can only be joined by a national government, which is usually also responsible for implementing them. Not so in Australia, where, in respect of the CBD, states and territories have prime responsibility for the protection and management of our nature’s gifts.

National Reserve System and Nature’s Gifts

Dr Graeme L. Worboys AM is a former Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University & Bruce Gall is a former Director of the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.

This article is the third in an 8-part series discussing our nature’s gifts.

The National Reserve System is a strategic, science-based collaboration between Australia’s nine jurisdictions to conserve the nation’s biodiversity. The NRS now includes over 13,000 protected areas; we’ve come a long way since The National Park (now Royal) was created in 1879.