Ownership and governance of protected areas 

Ownership of protected areas

CAPAD 2022 shows that 22.1 per cent of Australia’s landmass is currently protected (13,906 properties covering 169.9 million hectares) compared to 19.75 per cent from CAPAD 2020.

Over 38 per cent of the protected area estate is in over 7,200 properties that are publicly owned and managed by the Australian, state and territory governments. These protected areas cover more than 65 million hectares and over 8 per cent of Australia.

Indigenous Protected Areas are areas of Indigenous community owned and managed lands protected in Australia. They contribute the largest component (49 per cent) of the NRS covering more than 84 million hectares, which is over 10 per cent of Australia. Note that these figures are correct as at 30 June 2022, the period covered by CAPAD data. Since that date new IPAs have been dedicated.

There are over 6,270 protected areas on private land covering nearly 6 per cent of the NRS and over 1 per cent of Australia. They perform an important role in protecting biodiversity values on private land in the agricultural and pastoral regions of Australia.

Governance of protected areas (source: CAPAD 2022)
Governance Number of
protected areas		 Protected area (ha) Proportion of total
protected area		 Percent of Australia
Community

80

84,085,730

49.48%

10.94%
Government

7,295

65,864,605

38.76%

8.57%
Joint

255

9,954,951

5.86%

1.29%
Private

6,276

10,035,976

5.91%

1.31%
Total

-

169,941,262

100%

22.1%
Map of Australia showing National Reserve System - Governance Categories

Download the National Reserve System - Governance Categories map (PDF 1.56 MB)

State and territory levels of protection (source: CAPAD 2022)
Jurisdiction Jurisdiction area (ha) Protected area (ha) % of jurisdiction
protected		 Contribution to
NRS (%)		 Number of protected areas Average size (ha)
ACT 235,815 131,904 55.94% 0.08% 51 2,586
JBT 6,657 5,597 84.08% 0.00% 2 2,799
NSW 80,115,007 8,169,918 10.2% 4.81% 2,350 3,477
NT 134,779,163 33,536,325 24.88% 19.73% 85 394,545
QLD 172,974,215 15,275,846 8.83% 8.99% 1,222 12,501
SA 98,432,191 29,721,867 30.2% 17.49% 2,014 14,758
TAS 6,840,139 2,893,895 42.31% 1.7% 1,676 1,727
VIC 22,744,373 4,012,888 17.64% 2.36% 4,627 867
WA 252,701,298 76,142,710 30.13% 44.81% 1,857 41,003
External   50,313 - 0.03% 19 2,648
Australia 768,828,859 169,941,262 22.1% 100.00% 13,903 12,223