The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection has released a new strategy detailing how protecting and revitalising national parks will play a role in supporting economic recovery.
The Department’s Queensland Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030 is a 10-year plan for supporting the growth, management and sustainability of national parks and other protected areas, and includes initial funding of $60 million.
Minister for Environment, Leeanne Enoch said the strategy included expansion of protected areas and a doubling of ranger numbers in the Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger Program.
She said there would be funds for the acquisition of properties across the State for dedication as protected areas, while there would also be allocations to expand the Private Protected Areas Program that supported landholders to establish nature refuges and special wildlife reserves on their land.
“The critical role of First Nations peoples in co-stewarding Queensland’s environment will be supported through a significant expansion of the Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger Program,” Ms Enoch said.
“Our Government has expanded Queensland’s protected area system by more than 1.2 million hectares since 2015 and the Strategy and investment we’re announcing will continue this expansion and establish a pathway for the growth and protection of protected areas over the next 10 years.”
She said national parks and other protected areas were a crucial part of Queensland’s tourism industry.
“They support jobs and industries in our regions and provide a connection to nature and culture that is vital to our overall health and wellbeing,” Ms Enoch said.
“Over the next decade, we’ve mapped out several ways we’ll be transforming our protected area system, to ensure that our most important areas are safeguarded.”
The 39-page Strategy can be accessed at this PS News link.
