FAQs

Protected areas are places specifically managed for conservation outcomes and are designated under legislative frameworks. They can be on public or private land, and are made up of a variety of reserves, such as national parks, heritage agreements and Indigenous Protected Areas. South Australia’s state-managed protected areas cover 22 per cent of the state, with other protected areas on private lands bringing the total to 29 per cent. 

Conserved areas are an emerging framework that help recognise places that support conservation where formal protection is not possible. They differ from our protected areas because they don’t need to have conservation outcomes as their primary management objective, and they may not be legally designated. Conserved areas aren’t recognised in South Australia yet, and part of this strategy explores how they can be best implemented to support South Australia’s conservation goals.

These areas play an essential role in protecting South Australia’s biodiversity and the places South Australians cherish.

They also contribute significantly to the state’s tourism economy and provide recreational opportunities and connection to nature that underpins community health and wellbeing, and social connection.

The strategy is about directing where and how we expand our protected and conserved areas in South Australia over the next 10 years. This is important, as South Australia’s biodiversity continues to decline, and our protected areas have a demonstrable impact on reducing impacts to the biodiversity that remains by preserving intact ecosystems, protecting places suitable for rehabilitation and restoration, providing opportunities for ecological research and monitoring, and providing climate refugia for species facing climate change. 

It is also an activity limited by various constraints, including budgetary constraints. Determining how best to use funding as it becomes available is important to ensure that funding is spent wisely and where it achieves good outcomes. 

This strategy will help guide some of those decisions, to make sure park additions are strategic and designed to achieve the right outcomes.

The strategy focusses on the land-based protected and conserved areas, which includes reserves on inland waterways, rivers, lakes, estuaries and some intertidal areas. Marine parks have not been included because their designation is guided by other governmental mechanisms.

The strategy contains a collection of maps that identify areas with important values based on different biodiversity assessments. This information will help guide the government and conservation partners in setting conservation priorities and considering opportunities to add land to the protected and conserved areas when they arise, but it does not mean that the government is looking to buy that land.

The strategy aligns with the new legislation being developed to protect and conserve biodiversity in South Australia (the Biodiversity Act) and the Australian Government’s national target to protect and conserve 30 per cent of Australia’s landmass by 2030 (the ‘30 by 30’ target).

This will be a piece of non-statutory policy. It guides internally how the department grows protected areas and works with external private protected area and other conservation partners. It will also set some clearer priorities to help the private conservation sector and the public conservation sector work together to establish protected areas where they are most needed.