SECOND SOUTH PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON NATIONAL PARKS AND RESERVES Proceedings - Volume 1 Formal Papers Presented ,_ ., \ •. / •. • •t ~~3. "fR • oqlJ Sou 'lo\ . .I SYDNEY AUSTRALIA 1979 Lb) SECOi iD SOUTH PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON NATIONAL PARKS AND RESERVES - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1979 FORMAL PAPERS PRESENTED VOLUME I Page No. CONTENTS I AGENDA 4 II PAPERS PRESENTED ( 1) MAN IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC - PAST AND PRESENT by Senator The Hon. J.J. Webster, Minister for Science and the Environment, Australia 118 ( 2) PARKS, RESERVES AND TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES by The Hon. P. Kakarya, Minister for Environment and Conservation, Papua New Guinea 123 ( 3) THE IMPORTANCE OF ISLANDS AS RESERVES by The Hon. V. Young, Minister for Lands, New Zealand 130 ( 4) THE COASTAL ECOSYSTEM - MAN' S IMP ACT by The Hon. I. Bajpai, Minister for Social Welfare, Fiji 140 (5) DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF MARINE PARKS AND RESERVES IN THE KINGDOM OF TONGA by Mr. S.L. Tongilava, Superintendent of Lands, Surveys and Natural Resources, Tonga 148 ( 6) THE PROBLEMS OF CREATING PUBLIC AWARENESS (Panel Session) - Convenor, Dr. A. Dahl, Regional Ecological Adviser, South Pacific 89 Commission (Volume II) ( r!) MAN IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC - THE FUTURE by Dr. R.F. Dasmann , Re presenting the International Union for the Conservation of 103 Natur e and Natural Resources (Volume II) ') '· III SITUATION REPORTS Page No. (1) Australia 6 (2) Australian Capital Territory 12 (3) Cook Islands 16 18 ( 4) Fiji (5) French Polynesia 32 (6) Gilbert Islands 35 (?) Nauru 80 (8) New Caledonia 37 (9) New Hebrides (Vanuaaku) 41 (10) New South Wales 21 (11) New Zealand 51 (12) Northern Territory 43 (13) Papua New Guinea 69 (14) Queensland 76 (15) South Australia 82 {16) Tasmania 56 ( 17) Tonga 89 108 (18) United States of America ( 19) Victoria 94 (20) Western Australia 105 101 (21) Wes tern Samoa IV RECJHHENDA'I'IONS : Page No. ( 1) Progress in the Establishment of National Parks and Reserves 153 (2) National Park Values 154 (3) Review of I . U.C . N. Definitions of National Parks and other Protected Areas 155 (4) Protection and Interpretation of Cultural Heritage 156 (5) Social and Cultural Areas on Tribal and Customary Lands 157 ( 6) Island National Parks and Reserves •• 158 (?) Mari ne Parks and Reserves 159 (8) Conservation of Oceanic Ecosystems •• 160 ;~ l•'OI{M/\L 1'1\1'1·~1 -::; PRE : ~t;;N' l'Ei l (cotd. • ) IV RECOMMENDATIONS (cont.) Page No. (9) Protection of Whales and other Cetaceans 161 (10) Convention on Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific Region 162 ( 11) Environmental Hanagement 163 (12) Planning for National Parks and Reserves 164 (13) Community Awareness and Education ••• 165 ( 14) Tra ining of St a ff to Manage National Parks 166 and Reserves (15) Future Conferences 167 V CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS 168 AGENDII. Tuesday, 24th April, 1979 9.00 a.m. Welcome to Conference and Opening Address by The Han. D.P. Landa, LL.B., M.L.C., Minister for Planning and Environment, New South Wales. 9.30 a.m. 1. Apologies. 2. Introductions. 3- Settlement of procedural matters:- · (a) Confirmation of agenda (b) Recommendations Committee (c) Question of News media releases 10.00 a.m. Situation Reports (Delegation Leaders). 10.30 a.m. Morning Tea. 11.00 a.m. Situation Reports. 12.30 p.m. Lunch. 2.00 p.m. "Man i n the South Pacifi<- - Past and Present" by Senator The Han. J.J. Webster, Minister for Science and the Environment, Australia. 3.15 p .m. Afternoon Tea. 3.45 p.m. "Parks, Reserves and Traditional Communities" by The Han. P. Kakarya, Minister for Environment and Conservation, Papua New Guinea. 5.00 p.m. Session closes. Thursday , 26th April, 1979 9 .00 a .m. Situation Reports (Delegation Leaders). 10 . 30 a . m. Morning Tea. 11 .00 a . m. "'l'he Importance of Islands as Reserves" by The Han. V. Young, Minister for Lands, New Zealand. 12 . 30 p . m. Lunch . 2 .00 p . m. "The Coastal Ecosystem - Man's Impact" by The Han. I. Bajpai, Minister for Social Welfare, Fiji. 3 . 15p. m. Afternoon Tea. 3.45 p .m. "Development and Management of Marine Parks and Reserves in the Kingdom of Tonga" by Mr. S.L. Tongilava, Superintendent of Lands, Surveys and Natural Resources, Tonga. 5 .00 p . m. Session closes. r· ' ) AGEHDA (cont . ) Friday, 27th April, 1979 9.00 a.m. "The Problems of Creating Public Awareness" - (panel session). 10.15 a.m. Morning Tea. 10.45 a .m. "Man in the South Pacific - The Future" - a selective synthesis of the work of the Conference with some personal viewpoints by Dr. R.F. Dasmann, representative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. 12 . 15 p.m. Lunch . 1.45 p.m. General Business and Report of Recommendations Committee. 3-15 p.m. Afternoon Tea. 3.45 p.m. Report of Recommendations Committee (continued if necessary) , followed by Closing Ceremony. 5.00 p.m. Conference concludes. f) SITUATION REPORT - AUSTRALIA PREAMBLE Au stralia comprises an area of 7,682,300 square kilometres. Bounded on the west and east by the Indian and Pacific Oceans respectively, it lies between longitudes 113° 9' East and 153° 39' East, while its northern and southern limits are the parallels of latitude 10° 41' South and 43° 39' South. To its north are the Timor and Arafura Seas and Torres Strait; to its south is the Southern Ocean. Nearly 39 per cent of the total area of Australia lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Austra lia's large area which spans several climatic zones combined with a variety of soil, topography, and human influence has produced a diversity of landscapes. Because of the isolation of the island continent many of these landscapes and their associated flora and fauna are unique and of great national and international significance. GEOGRAPHY A transect through the Australian continent from east to west at its greatest brea dth, would show a narrow easterly belt of coastal plain. This plain, extending north and south along the whole east coast, is well watered by rivers. It is of variable width, seldom more than one hundred kilometres, and occasionally only a few kilometres. Bordering the western margin of this plain is the Great Dividing Range, which extends from the north of Queensland to the south of New South Wales, and thence one branch sweeps westward towards the boundary of Victoria and South Australia, and t he other, the main branch, terminates in Tasmania. This range, which often arises abruptly from the plain, frequently presents steep es carpments on its eastern face, but the descent on its western slopes is gradual, until, in the country to the north of Spencers Gulf, South Australia, the inland plain is below sea-level in some places. Thence there is another almost imperceptible rise until the mountain ranges of We stern Australia are reached, and beyond these lies another coastal plain. Th e mount a ins of Australia are relatively low, the highest peak, Mount Kosciusko , in New South Wales, being only about 2,225 metres. Three-quarters of the l a nd-mass of Australia lies between 180 and 450 metr es contours and f orm s a huge plateau. A great variety of landscapes is present from the enormous flat plains of t he Null ar bor t o the rugged wilderness of south-west Tasmania. CLIMATE Au s tralia is the world's driest continent, nearly 60 per cent of the country r eceives an average annual rainfall of less than 380 mm. Tr oudaninna i n South Aus tralia has the lowest average rainfall of only 105 mm. In the south-east, the east coa st and the s outh-west, the pr ecipit ation i s much gr eater with Tully in coastal north Queensland having an annual a verage of 4, 500 mm . and Lake Margaret, Tasmania, 3700 mm. The r a i nfall t ends t o be extremely va riable varying both within a year and from year to yea r. Substantial falls of rain occur occasionally in the driest pa rts of t he country. Dur i ng Janua ry a verage maximum temperatures exceed 35° C over muc h of the int erior. J uly i s the coldest month with regular frosts being r ecorded in the higher r egions of s outhern Australia, and extensive snow fall s over l ar ge areas a bove 1,370 metres altitude. Most of the continent receives more than 3,000 hours of sunshine each year and in central Australia, totals in excess of 3,500 hours occur. A minimum of approximately 1,750 hours of sunshine occurs on the west coast and highlands of Tasma nia. 7 POPULATION Australia's population now exceeds 14% million and is expected to be about 18 million by the turn of the century. The population is concentrated mainly in the south-eastern part of the continent with a smaller concentration in the south-west. About 85 per cent of the people live in urban a reas with 45 per cent concentrated ln the two larger cities of Sydney and Melbourne. POLICY The Australian Governments (Commonwealth, State and Territory) are protecting examples of Australia's unique flora and fauna in a compre­ hensive system of national parks and equivalent reserves. The national parks are seen as important for recreation and other purposes such as research , education and water catchments. In the international sphere Australia is actively co-operating with the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , and the International Union for the Conservation of Natural Resources.