2017-02-13 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                            13 FEBRUARY 2017


7                         DRAFT QUEENSLAND PROTECTED AREA STRATEGY
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                              Principal Environment Officer, Peter Milne
                                    Planning & Infrastructure Department

Index                               ECM/Customer/Department of Environment and Heritage

Attachments                         1.   Draft Queensland Protected Area Strategy
                                    2.   Draft submission


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Principal Environment Officer to the General Committee
dated 13 February 2017 and make the submission, provided at Attachment 2 to the Report, to
the Queensland Government in response to the Draft Queensland Protected Area Strategy.


REPORT
The Queensland Government has recently released the Draft Protected Area Strategy and is
inviting submissions on the Strategy.

State protected areas are dedicated under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and include
National Parks, Conservation Parks and Nature Refuges and currently represent almost 8% of
the State. Consistent with United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity objectives, the State
is hoping to ultimately secure 17% of terrestrial land in protected areas across Queensland.
Within Noosa Shire the protected area estate represents 25.3% of the Shire (National Park
23.1%, Conservation Park 0.3%, Nature Refuge 1.9%).

The Strategy identifies 11 guiding principles (page 5 of the Strategy) and seeks feedback on a
number of matters, including, but not limited to:
                       The establishment of a coordination group to facilitate coordinated protected area
                         management and investment;
                       The inclusion of other lands that are currently managed for conservation purposes but do
                         not have formal protection under State legislation in protected area reporting (e.g.
                         Indigenous Protected Areas);
                       Identifying ways to further engage and collaborate with landholders on private land
                         protection measures, for example, through offset incentive schemes;
                       The contribution of local government in conserving areas of high conservation value and
                         the potential for including appropriate Council reserves in the Protected Area estate as
                         Nature Refuges; and
                       Exploring options to manage and maintain the current and expanded parks estate, for
                         example, through user fees and developing managing partner relationships with other
                         organisations and local government authorities.




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