$250 million protected areas announcement a step towards addressing funding gap
Daintree National Park. Image source: Manny Moreno Unsplash
Media Release
19 March 2025
The Biodiversity Council welcomes the Australian Government's announcement of $250 million in new investment to build Australia’s protected areas network.
Biodiversity Council Co-chief Councillor and former Queensland Government Chief Scientist Professor Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland said:
“This new commitment is an important step toward protecting Australia’s unique landscapes.
National Parks, like Kalamunda National Park outside of Perth, are an important part of the protected areas network. Image source: Honeydew a CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
“At the moment less than 10c out of every $100 the Australian government spends hits the ground for consequences, so we need to see a significant uplift in overall investment to tackle the loss of ecosystems and wildlife.
“This investment is important to enable Australia to meet our commitment to protect 30 percent of our lands and seas by 2030 as a signatory to the Global Biodiversity Framework.
“The previous National Reserve System program was one of the most successful conservation programs in Australia's history and enjoyed bipartisan support.
“This is a positive step toward setting aside space for our unique plants and animals, but we also need to see greatly increased funding to effectively manage these conservation areas so native plants, animals and ecosystems can survive and thrive in these places.
“This means ongoing investment to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss, such as invasive plants and animals, and effective fire management.
The woylie is one animal being protected in predator-free conservation areas that are managed by non-profit organisations that are being counted in the Australian Governments 30 by 30 targets. Image source: Isaac Clarey CC BY-NC iNaturalist
“An effective conservation areas network is also not just about the area size. We don’t just want a huge area of one type of ecosystem with little protection for other ecosystems and the species that rely on them.
“To be successful, 30 by 30 is about ensuring we protect 30 per cent of every ecosystem type and viable populations of every species.
“At the moment, we have major gaps in the ecosystems and species that are protected, so we would like to see this new investment be strategically invested to address these gaps.
“In some intensively used areas, such as the sheep-wheat belt, where little native habitat remains, we will need to actively restore some habitats.”
Biodiversity Council member and Indigenous researcher Dr Teagan Shields from Curtin University said:
“The Australian Government relies heavily on Indigenous Protected Areas to meet international commitments regarding the amount of land managed for conservation but does not adequately resource their on-going management.
The Biodiversity Council says funding for conservation work in Indigenous Protected Areas should be increased to match National Parks. Image source: Jaana Dielenberg
“Indigenous rangers and other land and sea managers do an amazing job managing vast areas with relatively small numbers of people and quite scant resourcing, far below the resourcing provided to national parks.
“The per square kilometre resourcing for active conservation management of Indigenous Protected Areas should be lifted to match the resourcing of Commonwealth national parks.
“This would support world-class natural and cultural management of these globally important land and seascapes.”
Australia has pledged to increase the amount of land set aside for conservation from 22% to 30% by 2030, in line with commitments from 195 other countries, as part of global efforts to halt unsustainable biodiversity loss.
