From activism to “not-quite-government”: the role of government and non-government actors in the expansion of the Australian protected area estate since 1990
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What can we learn from the prodigious expansion of the non-government protected areas that now comprise 12% of terrestrial Australia? An increasingly professional, formal, and diverse non-government sector has developed since 1990, comprising private individuals, non-government organizations, and First Nations and having close ties to governments. We investigate the drivers, dynamics, and diversity of this sector through thematic analysis of 24 key informant interviews and associated gray literature. Changing environmental movements, science-led conservation, partial recognition of First Nations land rights, international agreements, and neoliberal reforms combined to formalize the sector during the 1990s. A bipartisan policy framework for incorporating non-government lands in the national conservation estate, diverse partnerships, transnational networks, and innovation in public and private funding helped grow the sector. The confluence of interests that has transformed the politics and practice of nature conservation in Australia is likely to inform those engaged with similar changes elsewhere.
Funding
Australian Research Council
History
Publication title
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
Volume
66
Issue
8
Pagination
1-23
ISSN
0964-0568
Department/School
Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences
Publisher
Routledge
Publication status
Published
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Rights statement
Copyright 2022 Newcastle University
Socio-economic Objectives
180606 Terrestrial biodiversity, 130703 Understanding Australia’s past, 230203 Political systems