Is Australia really a global leader in Marine Protected Area practice?

• Main Authors: Beringen, Ethan, Liu, Nengye, Lim, Michelle
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/de0f22f1-fc9e-42ab-ba02-230fe8bbe745

With the introduction of Australia’s 1998 Ocean Policy, then Prime Minister John Howard boldly proclaimed Australia’s “world leadership” in dealing with the “the complex issues confronting the long-term future of our oceans.” 23 years later, upon the 2021 announcement of the $100 million “Oceans Leadership package”, Environment Minister Sussan Ley expressed a similar sentiment. She signalled Australia’s belief in its continued legacy of excellence in oceans governance. This article seeks to critically examine Australia’s self-proclaimed world leader status when it comes to marine protection. Specifically, Australia’s federal marine protected area (MPA) network, touted as “one of the largest networks of marine parks in the world”, will be the focus of this analysis. While there exist various accounts of the major milestones in Australia’s MPA practice, both at a domestic and international level, this article will examine the numerous assessments that have been made about the quality of this practice. Hence this article will simply ask “Is Australia really a global leader in MPA practice?” Firstly, the literature on Australia’s domestic MPA practice and how effective it has been in achieving conservation objectives will be addressed. Next the scholarship addressing the conduct of Australia as a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) will be examined as a key case study of Australia’s international practice. Finally, some brief lessons and central themes from the literature will be explored to conclude.