What is environmental protection?

Environmental protection in Australia is the framework of laws, programmes, and community action that protects the country's natural environment for current and future generations. It operates at federal, state, and local levels, supplemented by international commitments and a strong public culture of bushwalking, beach use, gardening, and outdoor recreation.

The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) is the main national law. It protects matters of national environmental significance including World Heritage properties, Ramsar wetlands, threatened species and ecological communities, migratory species, the marine environment, and nuclear actions. The Climate Change Act 2022 sets legally binding emissions targets of 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. State and territory environmental laws cover land use planning, native vegetation clearing, water management, and pollution.

International commitments are extensive. Australia is a party to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (protecting 67 Australian sites), the World Heritage Convention (20 Australian sites), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris Agreement.

Practical environmental protection covers many areas. About 22 per cent of Australia's land is in the National Reserve System, including national parks, conservation reserves, Indigenous Protected Areas, and private conservation properties. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (344,400 square kilometres) and the Coral Sea Marine Park (989,842 square kilometres) protect significant ocean areas. Threatened species recovery programmes, container deposit schemes, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and the Cyclone Reinsurance Pool address specific issues. Aboriginal cultural fire management, Indigenous Rangers programmes, Landcare, Coastcare, and Bush Heritage Australia all extend government action with community and Indigenous-led conservation. The 2020 Samuel Review of the EPBC Act recommended major reform, now progressing through the Albanese government's Nature Positive package.