What are we doing to improve biodiversity?
Across the globe, biodiversity is under threat. In South Australia more than 1,100 of our plants and animal species are threatened with extinction. Efforts to protect and restore biodiversity is essential for preserving life as we know it.
This page will help you:
- Learn about programs and initiatives to conserve or restore biodiversity in South Australia
How are we conserving biodiversity?
Nature Conservation Directions Statement
The Nature Conservation Directions Statement 2020 was a Government initiative, representing a commitment to preserve and enhance South Australia’s enviable diversity of natural systems. It establishes a vision for all South Australians to forge a new relationship with nature and is supported by goals and leading practice principles.
Protected and conserved land
South Australia is committed to the national ’30 by 30 target’ to protect and conserve 30% of land and marine areas by 2030.
Expanding and enhancing South Australia’s protected and conserved areas will help biodiversity thrive. To guide this progress, DEW has worked with the Parks and Wilderness Council to develop a Strategy for Protected and Conserved Land Areas in South Australia.
Conserved areas are a new way and flexible way that landholders can voluntarily contribute to increasing conserved land and helping the state’s biodiversity.
Learn more:
- Strategy for Protected and Conserved Land Areas in South Australia
- The 30 by 30 target explained
- Conserved areas
Bounceback
Bounceback is South Australia’s longest running landscape-scale biodiversity program, protecting and restoring the semi-arid environments of the Flinders, Gammon, Olary, and Gawler ranges.
Sanctuaries
The Sanctuary Scheme is a voluntary scheme that encourages and assists landowners to provide habitats for wildlife on their property. A sanctuary is a private or public area containing high value habitat outside the DEW system of parks and reserves.
There have been sanctuaries in South Australia since 1919. Originally they were set up to provide areas where mammals and birds could not be hunted.
Sanctuaries are declared on land containing areas of established habitat where landowners are committed to conservation management.
Benefits of sanctuaries
Endangered species protection
Sanctuaries have been created to protect endangered species. On Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula sanctuaries are protecting sheoak habitat for glossy-black cockatoos. Other sanctuaries have been established to protect pygmy bluetongue lizards living in native grasslands in the northern agricultural districts.
Production and biodiversity conservation
There are many sanctuaries that combine other land uses with biodiversity conservation. Sanctuary landowners are involved in:
- farming, grazing and horticultural enterprises
- production and distribution of electricity
- organic horticulture and wine production.
Ecotourism
A number of sanctuaries are involved in ecotourism offering:
- bed and breakfast accommodation
- guided tours and nature walks
- opportunities for tourists to come in contact with Australia's unique wildlife.
Public education and use
Sanctuaries may also be established on public land. These sanctuaries often combine biodiversity conservation with recreational use by the public. Examples include:
- golf courses
- lakes used for swimming and boating
- picnic areas.
Related links
Previous initiatives
The Nature of SA project
The Nature of SA was a sector-wide partnership to guide positive change in our approach to nature conservation in response to a changing climate, extensive landscape change and a changing world. The partnership was active 2016 - 2018 and followed an adaptive, inclusive process to develop a strategic approach for conserving nature in the 21st century in South Australia.
The website is a product of that government and NGO partnership. It outlines 9 shifts for nature conservation in South Australia. They explore how nature and our society are changing and chart a course to best respond to these challenges.
Learn more:
No species loss
The aim of No Species Loss – a Nature Conservation Strategy for South Australia 2007 to 2017 was to lose no more species from South Australia. When released in 2007, No Species Loss defined what we thought was required over the next ten years to protect the state's ecosystems - the native plants and animals, and the environments in which they live. That Strategy recognises that some of the damage we have done to our ecosystems may take hundreds of years to repair.
More information:
