What can we learn from the prodigious expansion of the non-government protected areas that now comprise 12% of terrestrial Australia? An increasingly professional, formal, and diverse non-government sector has developed since 1990, comprising private individuals, non-government organizations, and First Nations and having close ties to governments. We investigate the drivers, dynamics, and diversity of this sector through thematic analysis of 24 key informant interviews and associated gray literature. Changing environmental movements, science-led conservation, partial recognition of First Nations land rights, international agreements, and neoliberal reforms combined to formalize the sector during the 1990s. A bipartisan policy framework for incorporating non-government lands in the national conservation estate, diverse partnerships, transnational networks, and innovation in public and private funding helped grow the sector. The confluence of interests that has transformed the politics and practice of nature conservation in Australia is likely to inform those engaged with similar changes elsewhere.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	environmental policy, environmental governance, Indigenous protected areas, private protected areas, environmental non-government organizations, National Reserve System
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Environmental management
Research Field:	Conservation and biodiversity
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Terrestrial systems and management
Objective Field:	Terrestrial biodiversity
UTAS Author:	Davison, A (Associate Professor Aidan Davison)
UTAS Author:	Pearce, LM (Ms Lilian Pearce)
UTAS Author:	Kirkpatrick, JB (Professor James Kirkpatrick)
ID Code:	149102
Year Published:	2022
Funding Support:	Australian Research Council (DP180103118)
Deposited By:	Geography and Spatial Science
Deposited On:	2022-03-08
Last Modified:	2022-12-09
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