Crown land refers to land that is owned by the government and is held in trust for the public, mainly by state or territory governments but sometimes by the Federal Government. Some Crown lands are ‘unallocated’ but many have leases for a variety of purposes, with the dominant uses over much of the continent being grazing of stock and mining or mineral exploration.
Over time, as land use has changed and land management priorities have evolved to include conservation and biodiversity protection, some Crown land has been repurposed for conservation, including for addition to the public protected area estate. There are various types of Crown land in Australia that could be considered for conversion into protected areas, providing a cost-effective opportunity without the cost of acquisition to obtain protection outcomes, particularly in critical areas for biodiversity and areas that provide significant ecosystem services (e.g. carbon and water).
Increasingly there are areas of state forest with conservation values that are becoming available for conservation due to the phasing out of native forest logging. Victoria and Western Australia have both made commitments to phase out logging of native forests on public land by 2024, as has Queensland for its South East forests. The foreshadowed review of the National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS) presents an opportunity to consider incorporation of 30×30 commitments and other recent biodiversity conservation policies and commitments that have been developed since the NFPS. This should involve a review of the various Regional Forest Agreements.
Some states have dedicated authorities to assess public land at a regional level (such as the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council and the New South Wales Natural Resources Commission). Investigations run by these authorities have been important for increasing protected areas on public land but recent recommendations in some states are yet to be implemented. Opportunities for protection on public land could also be identified as part of the Federal Government’s regional planning process, however these processes are unlikely to be completed in a timeframe to make substantial additions to the protected area estate by 2030.
While designated water production areas in intact native forested catchments typically have water production as a primary purpose, these lands do contribute to the protection of ecosystems and provide vital ecosystem services, including water purification, flood regulation, and protection of carbon stocks. Several water production areas have also been subsequently included in national parks (such as Melbourne’s closed catchments as part of Yarra Ranges National Park), demonstrating an alignment of purposes. Other opportunities for declaring designated water catchments on public land as protected areas should be explored.
Recommendation
The Australian Government should partner with states and territories to systematically review Crown land to identify areas of high conservation significance and subsequent protected area opportunities consistent with the principles of comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness (CAR), and enable jurisdictions and Traditional Owners to undertake the necessary negotiations.
The conversion of Crown land to a conservation use must secure the consent of Traditional Owners and often an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA). A properly resourced negotiation of an ILUA is an opportunity to ensure informed consent and create agreements that underpin both the conservation outcomes of protected areas and other goals such as cultural protection, tourism and economic development, and remote and Indigenous employment in land management.
Although not the primary focus of this report, Australia’s network of marine protected areas occur entirely in waters controlled by state, territory and federal governments (i.e. Crown land). The networks in each of these jurisdictions and the zoning of those networks should be reviewed to reflect Australia’s commitment to Target 3 of the GBF and to comply with Australian policy commitments to establish a comprehensive, adequate and representative National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas.