Australian Government scraps management plans for new national system of marine reserves

Australian Government scraps management plans for new national system of marine reserves

In separate decision, Government approves major coal terminal along Great Barrier Reef

The new Coalition Government in Australia, elected by national vote in September, has scrapped management plans developed by the prior Labor Government for most of the nation's representative system of MPAs.  The impacted MPAs are the 33 sites that were designated in 2012 by the Labor Government.  The dropped management plans would have taken effect in July 2014.

Australian Government scraps management plans for new national system of marine reserves

More developments from IMPAC3: Official MPA Map – Ministerial conference – French commitments – Hope Spots

Launch of Official MPA Map, a visual tally of global MPA coverage

A new map produced by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) illustrates global MPA coverage, now estimated to be at 2.8% of the world ocean.  Taken together the coverage area is larger than continental Europe, but still falls far short of the World Convention on Biological Diversity target of 10% global coverage by 2020.

Launched at IMPAC3, the Official MPA Map can be viewed or downloaded at www.protectplanetocean.org/official_mpa_map.  It is based on the World Database on Protected Areas, which is administered by the WCMC.