Technical information supporting the 2018 land protected areas (landscapes that are adequately protected) trend and condition report card DEW Technical note 2018/26 Technical information supporting the 2018 land protected areas (landscapes that are adequately protected) trend and condition report card Department for Environment and Water June 2018 DEW Technical note 2018/26 Department for Environment and Water GPO Box 1047, Adelaide SA 5001 Telephone National (08) 8463 6946 International +61 8 8463 6946 Fax National (08) 8463 6999 International +61 8 8463 6999 Website www.environment.sa.gov.au Disclaimer The Department for Environment and Water and its employees do not warrant or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use, of the information contained herein as regards to its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or otherwise. Department for Environment and Water and its employees expressly disclaims all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice. Information contained in this document is correct at the time of writing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © Crown in right of the State of South Australia, through the Department for Environment and Water 2018 ISBN 978-1-925668-69-8 Preferred way to cite this publication DEW (2018). Technical information supporting the 2018 land protected areas (landscapes that are adequately protected) trend and condition report card. DEW Technical note 2018/26, Government of South Australia, Department for Environment and Water, Adelaide. Download this document at https://data.environment.sa.gov.au DEW Technical note 2018/26 ii Acknowledgements This document was prepared by Nigel Willoughby, Nick Neagle, David Thompson and Matt Royal (all DEW) based on a methodology generated by Annelise Wiebkin and Brad Page (both previously DEW, now Primary Industries and Regions, South Australia). Dan Rogers (DEW) provided principal oversight throughout and technical review of this report. Improvements were made to this report and associated report card based on reviews by Lee Heard, Ben Smith, Colin Cichon, Fi Taylor, Michelle Bald and Sandy Carruthers (all DEW). DEW Technical note 2018/26 iii Contents Acknowledgements iii Contents iv Summary 6 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Protected areas 1 1.2 Environment trend and condition reporting 2 1.2.1 Environmental trend and condition report card continual improvement 2 2 Methods 3 2.1 Indicator 3 2.2 Data sources 3 2.2.1 Landscapes 3 2.2.2 Protected areas 4 2.3 Analysis 5 2.4 Reliability 7 2.5 Software 8 3 Results 9 3.1 Statewide 9 3.2 NRM regions 11 3.3 Reliability 14 4 Discussion 16 5 Appendix 17 5.1 AMLR NRM Region 17 5.2 AW NRM Region 17 5.3 EP NRM Region 18 5.4 KI NRM Region 20 5.5 NY NRM Region 20 5.6 SAAL NRM Region 22 5.7 SAMDB NRM Region 25 5.8 SE NRM Region 26 6 References 29 DEW Technical note 2018/26 iv List of figures Figure 1 Relationship of IBRA Associations 6.1 to the NRM regions 4 Figure 2 Percent of South Australia conserved in public, private and both public and private (i.e. public + private) reserves 10 Figure 3 Percentage of IBRA Associations that are adequately protected 10 Figure 4 Percent of IBRA Associations in each NRM Region that are adequately protected. Lines stop in the last year in which an IBRA Association reached the 10% threshold 12 Figure 5 Regional trends in protection of native vegetation 13 Figure 6 Percentage of adequately protected IBRA Associations 14 List of tables Table 1 South Australian NRM regions 4 Table 2 Data source for each type of protected area 5 Table 3 Definition of trend classes used 6 Table 4 Definition of condition classes 6 Table 5 Guides for applying information currency 7 Table 6 Guides for applying information applicability 7 Table 7 Guides for applying spatial representation of information (sampling design) 7 Table 8 R (R Core Team 2017) packages used in the production of this report 8 Table 9 Statewide trend and condition in six-year periods of landscapes that are adequately protected 9 Table 10 Trend and condition in each NRM Region of landscapes that are adequately protected 11 Table 11 Number of IBRA Associations in each NRM Region with no protected areas 11 Table 12 Information reliability scores for land protected areas landscapes that are adequately protected 14 Table 13 IBRA Associations assigned to AMLR Region 17 Table 14 IBRA Associations assigned to AW Region 17 Table 15 IBRA Associations assigned to EP Region 18 Table 16 IBRA Associations assigned to KI Region 20 Table 17 IBRA Associations assigned to NY Region 20 Table 18 IBRA Associations assigned to SAAL Region 22 Table 19 IBRA Associations assigned to SAMDB Region 25 Table 20 IBRA Associations assigned to SE Region 26 DEW Technical note 2018/26 v Summary This document describes the indicators, data sources, analysis methods and results used to develop this report and the associated report card. The reliability of data sources for their use in this context are also described. DEW Technical note 2018/26 vi 1 Introduction 1.1 Protected areas The original intent of protected areas was to conserve iconic landscapes and wildlife. These days protected areas are increasingly expected to supply a diverse range of conservation, social and economic outcomes to people and communities worldwide (Watson et al. 2014). Protected areas are a tried and tested approach that has been applied for centuries to conserve nature and associated cultural resources by local communities, indigenous peoples, governments and other organizations (World Parks Congress). While the protected area system has increased substantially in recent decades this has not been matched by increasing support for management of protected areas. Financial support for protected areas worldwide is dwarfed by the benefits that they provide, but these returns depend on effective management (Watson et al. 2014). Increased recognition, funding, planning and enforcement will be required to enable protected areas to fulfil their potential (Watson et al. 2014). This potential extends the vital role of protected areas in conserving nature to their role in assisting human response to some of today’s most pressing challenges, including food and water security, human health and well-being, disaster risk reduction and climate change (World Parks Congress). The IUCN (Dudley 2008) defines protected areas as ‘a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values’. This definition includes both public and private lands. In South Australia areas of land are protected under a variety of mechanisms including: • Indigenous Protected Areas • National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 – National Parks including co-managed parks – Conservation Parks including co-managed parks – Game Reserves – Recreation Parks – Regional Reserves • Wilderness Protection Act 1992 – Wilderness Protection Areas and Zones including co-managed areas • Native Vegetation Act 1991 – Heritage Agreements • Forestry Act 1950 – Native Forest Reserves • Crown Lands Management Act 2009 – Crown Land Reserve (Conservation Reserve) • Arkaroola Protection Act 2012 – Arkaroola Protection Area • Marine Parks Act 2007. In some instances Marine Park boundaries extend above the high tide mark - for example in the Onkaparinga River – general managed use zone – habitat protection zone – sanctuary zone – restricted access zone DEW Technical note 2018/26 1 Management objectives for South Australian protected areas are that the state’s terrestrial and marine biodiversity, environments and cultural heritage are healthy, productive and conserved and that in turn South Australian’s lives are enriched by the state’s biodiversity and cultural heritage. Protected areas aim to conserve the full range of ecosystems and build the capacity of natural systems to adapt to climate change. They also aim to protect places of special meaning for people and create opportunities for indigenous co-management. A survey in 2017 found 99% of South Australian’s valued National Parks, Conservation Parks and Recreational Parks for either recreation and use or biodiversity and cultural heritage while only 1% of South Australian’s said those parks were not important to them (DEWNR 2017a). Recent additions to the protected area system include: parts of Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park - Winaityinaityi Pangkara; Flinders Chase and Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Parks; Kanku-Breakaways, Nicolas Baudin Island, Ediacara and Lawari Conservation Parks; Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area; and Sturt Gorge Recreation Park (DEWNR 2018). 1.2 Environment trend and condition reporting The Minister for Environment and Water under the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 is required ‘to keep the state and condition of the natural resources of the State under review’. Environmental trend and condition report cards for South Australia are produced as a primary means for undertaking this review. Previous environmental trend and condition report card releases reported against the targets in the South Australian Natural Resources Management Plan (Government of South Australia 2012a) using the broad process outlined in the NRM State and Condition Reporting Framework (Government of South Australia 2012b). As the State NRM plan is currently