Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2016

The Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2016 provides both spatial and textual information about government, Indigenous and privately protected areas for Australia, in both the marine and terrestrial environments. This dataset is for terrestrial data only. State, Territory and the large NGO conservation agencies supply data current for 30 June 2016. This is the tenth version of the terrestrial database, with previous versions released in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The Department also publishes protected areas data for the marine environment. "CAPAD 2016-marine" contains spatial and text information about offshore protected areas, for both State and Commonwealth waters. Previous versions of CAPAD marine information have been published in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. 

CAPAD provides a snapshot of protected areas that meet the IUCN definition of a protected area:"A protected area is an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means" (IUCN 1994).

The department publishes a summary of the CAPAD data biennially on its website at http://www.environment.gov.au/capad/ This version of CAPAD 2016 is a public and downloadable version of CAPAD 2016 data, available for use through the CC-BY licencing model. 

Main attributes in the full version of CAPAD 2016 include:

PA_ID: The protected area ID code. Created from RES_NUMBER if unique, otherwise it is a DoEE generated number.

NAME: the name of the protected area. Gazetted PAs with no name are flagged as "Unnamed" with a reserve number. 

TYPE: the type of protected area according to the protected area establishment mechanism. 

TYPE_ABBR: the abbreviation of the TYPE.
AA	 Aboriginal Area
ACCP	 Conservation Covenant [Approved Conservation Covenant Program]
ASMA	 Antarctic Specially Managed Areas
ASPA	 Antarctic Specially Protected Areas
BG	 Botanic Gardens
BG_COM	 Botanic Gardens (Commonwealth)
CA	 Conservation Area
CCA	 Coordinated Conservation Area
CCAZ1	 CCA Zone 1 National Park
CCAZ3	 CCA Zone 3 State Conservation Area
COR	 Coastal Reserve
CP	 Conservation Park
CR	 Conservation Reserve
FLR	 Flora Reserve
FR	 Forest Reserve
GR	 Game Reserve
HA	 Heritage Agreement
HIR	 Historical Reserve
HR	 Heritage River
HS	 Historic Site
HTR	 Hunting Reserve
IPA	 Indigenous Protected Area
KCR	 Karst Conservation Reserve
MA	 Management Area
MAA	 Management Agreement Area
MR	 Miscellaneous Reserve
NAP	 Nature Park
NCA	 Natural Catchment Area
NCR	 Nature Conservation Reserve
NFR	 Natural Features Reserve
NP	 National Park
NPA	 National Park Aboriginal
NPC	 National Park (Commonwealth)
NPS4	 National Parks Act Schedule 4 park or reserve
NR	 Nature Reserve
NRA	 Nature Recreation Area
NREF	 Nature Refuge
NRS	 NRS Addition - Gazettal in Progress
NS	 National Park (Scientific)
OCA	 Other Conservation Area
OCA_NAP Other Conservation Area or Nature Park
OP	 Other
PA	 Protected Area
PNPA	 Proposed National Parks Act park or park addition
PNR	 Private Nature Reserve
PPP	 Permanent Park Preserve
PS	 Private Sanctuary
RA	 Reference Area
RCP	 Recreation Park
REP	 Regional Park
RNA	 Remote and Natural Area - not scheduled under National Parks Act
RNAS6	 Remote and Natural Area - Schedule 6, National Parks Act
RP	 Recreation Park
RR	 Regional Reserve
RSR	 Resources Reserve
S5G	 5(1)(g) Reserve
S5H	 5(1)(h) Reserve
SCA	 State Conservation Area
SP	 State Park
SR	 State Reserve
WP	 Wilderness Park
WPA	 Wilderness Protection Area
WZ	 Wilderness Zone - Schedule 5, National Parks Act

IUCN: the IUCN protected area management category ascribed by the Managing authority, as outlined in the publication: CNPPA/WCMC "Guidelines for Protected Area management categories". Gland: IUCN, 1994. (ISBN: 2-8317-0201-1).

Definitions include:
IA	Strict Nature Reserve: managed mainly for science;
IB	Wilderness Area: managed mainly for wilderness protection;
II	National Park: managed mainly for ecosystem protection;
III	Natural Monument: managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features;
IV	Habitat / Species Management Area: managed mainly for conservation through management intervention;
V	Protected Landscape / Seascape: managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation;
VI	Managed Resource Protected Area: managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.
NA         (Not applicable) - Denotes an area that does not meet the NRS criteria or the IUCN definition of a protected area but has management complimentary to the NRS.

GAZ_AREA: area in hectares as described in the nomination document (e.g. parliamentary gazettal), to the nearest hectare. Some protected areas do not have a specific area in the designation.

GIS_AREA: area in hectares based on current spatial data and an Albers equal area projection for Australia. Where protected area consists of multiple polygons (parts) the GIS_AREA is the sum of all the polygons with the same name, type, state and IUCN category. It is this field that is used to calculate the statistics provided in spreadsheets at: www.environment.gov.au/capad/

REPT_AREA is the same with GIS_AREA (previously REPT_AREA is in hectares from the GAZ_AREA attribute and if this is a null value then the GIS_AREA is used. Due to the fact that not all received data have REPT_AREA, it is incomplete and inconsistent if REPT_AREA is used for analysis. 

GAZ_DATE: the first gazettal or proclamation date that established any protected area at this site. A default date of 01/01/1900 is applied for undated and unlabelled polygons supplied to DoEE.

LATEST_GAZ: the date of the most recent gazettal or proclamation to add land to the protected area. It can be the same date as the GAZ_DATE.

NRS_PA: This attribute indicates the status of the protected area as part of the National Reserve System (NRS). 
"Y" = Yes. The land has been assessed as a protected area that meets the standard for inclusion in the NRS. 
"I" = an interim protected area. The land has been assessed to meet the standard for inclusion in the NRS but has not been formally established as a protected area although binding agreements are in place for formal protection to occur in the future.
"N" = No. The land has been assessed not to meet the standard for inclusion in the NRS but is managed for nature conservation without meeting the NRS standard.
"ND" = Not Determined. The land is probably managed for nature conservation that has not been assessed to determine if it meets the standard for inclusion in the NRS.

STATE: The state is the state or territory that the protected area is located in. EXT= protected areas located in Australian external territories.

AUTHORITY: The Authority responsible for the management of the protected area mechanism. 
AAD  -  Australian Antarctic Division
AC_SA  -  Alexandrina Council - South Australia
ACT_TCCS  -  ACT Transport Canberra and City Services
AS_PL  -  Austland Services P/L
AWC  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy
AWC_BA  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Birdlife Australia
AWC_DPAW  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Department of Parks and Wildlife WA
AWC_TLLFW  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Tony and Lisette Lewis Foundation WildlifeLink
AWC_YC  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Yulmbu Community
BHA  -  Bush Heritage Australia
BHA_NTWA  -  Bush Heritage Australia and National Trust of Western Australia
BRC_TAS  -  Burnie Council - Tasmania
CCC_QLD  -  Caloundra City Council - Queensland
CCC_TAS  -  Clarence City Council - Tasmania
DOEE  -  Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy
DRC_TAS  -  Dorset Council - Tasmania
EAC_QLD  -  Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation
EL_NSW  -  Enduring Landscapes Inc
FC_NSW  -  Forestry Corporation of NSW
FUA  -  Federation University Australia (was Uni Ballarat)
GCC_NSW  -  Gosford City Council – New South Wales
HCR_CMA  -  Hunter Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority
ILC  -  Indigenous Land Corporation
IMG  -  Indigenous Management Group
KNC_TAS  -  Kingborough Council - Tasmania
KRGC_NSW  -  Ku-ring-gai Council – New South Wales
LCC_TAS  -  Launceston City Council - Tasmania
LILC  -  Local Indigenous Land Council
MINCA_QLD  -  Magnetic Island Nature Care Association
NF_SA  -  Nature Foundation South Australia Inc
NMC_TAS  -  Northern Midlands Council - Tasmania
NSC_QLD  -  Noosa Shire Council - Queensland
NSW_OEH  -  NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
NT_PWCNT  -  Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT
NTWA  -  National Trust of Western Australia
QLD_EHP  -  Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
QLD_NPSR  -  Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing
SA_DEWNR  -  South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
SA_FRST  -  Forestry South Australia
SCRC_QLD  -  Sunshine Coast Regional Council - Queensland
SET  -  South Endeavour Trust
SHFT  -  Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
TAS_DPIPWE  -  Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
TAS_HYDRO  -  Hydro Tasmania
TAS_PAHSMA  -  Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority - Tasmania
TAS_PRIV  -  Private (miscellaneous) - Tasmania
TAS_WATER  -  TasWater
TAS_WPMT  -  Wellington Park Management Trust - Tasmania
TFN_QLD  -  Queensland Trust for Nature
TFN_VIC  -  Trust for Nature Victoria
TLC  -  Tasmanian Land Conservancy Inc
TSRA  -  Torres Strait Regional Authority
VIC_DELWP  -  Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
WA_DPAW  -  Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife
WAC  -  Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation

DATASOURCE: Describes the source of the data for the protected area, values are: 
AAD  -  Australian Antarctic Division
ACT_TCCS  -  ACT Transport Canberra and City Services
AWC  -  Australian Wildlife Conservancy
BHA  -  Bush Heritage Australia
BHA_NTWA  -  Bush Heritage Australia and National Trust of Western Australia
DOEE  -  Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy
DOEE_NRSP  -  Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy - National Reserve System Program
FC_NSW  -  Forestry Corporation of NSW
LHI_Board  -  Lord Howe Island Board
NF_SA  -  Nature Foundation SA Inc
NSW_OEH  -  NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
NT_PWCNT  -  Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT
NTWA  -  National Trust of Western Australia
QLD_EHP  -  Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
QLD_NPSR  -  Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing
SA_DEWNR  -  South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
SA_FRST  -  Forestry South Australia
TAS_DPIPWE  -  Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
TFN_QLD  -  Queensland Trust for Nature 
TFN_VIC  -  Trust for Nature Victoria
TLC  -  Tasmanian Land Conservancy Inc
TSRA  -  Torres Strait Regional Authority
VIC_DELWP  -  Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
WA_DPAW  -  Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife

GOVERNANCE: Records the type of governance that has management and decision making responsibility. G = Government, C = Community (conserved areas including indigenous peoples or local communities), J = Joint or P = Privately managed.

COMMENTS: Extra information jurisdictions elect to supply. In the case of Tasmania the following abbreviations have been supplied. PAPL: Protected Areas on Private Land, PFRP: Private Forest Reserves Program, BHP: Biodiversity Hotspots Program, CLAC: Crown Land Assessment Classification Project, FCF: Forest Conservation Fund, FCF_DAT: Forest Conservation Fund -Direct Approach Tas, MBHT: Midlands Biodiversity Hotspots Tender, NFVP: Non-Forest Vegetation Program, R_40s:  Roaring Forties Offset, Rev_Fund: Revolving Fund, TCFA: Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, TFA: Tasmanian Forest Agreement, FRs: Forest Reserves, MCF: Midlands Conservation Fund (Stewardship Agreements – Tas Land Conservancy (TLC).

ENVIRON: A protected area gazetted as terrestrial may have a marine component and vice versa. A protected area can be 'T' terrestrial, marine 'M' and both 'B'. Terrestrial CAPAD 2016 contains 'T' and 'B'. Marine CAPAD 2016 contains 'M' and ‘B’. If a record is coded as ‘B’ by the data provider DOEE calculates the proportional representation of marine and terrestrial areas within the polygon. If less than 70% of the area of the reserve is marine then the whole record is included in this dataset. If 70% or more of the area of the reserve is marine then the whole record is included in Marine CAPAD 2016

OVERLAP: Shows whether or not the protected area is overlapped by another. This field has been included, in terrestrial CAPAD only, to deal with the “stacked” nature of some terrestrial PAs so that overlaps could be ‘flattened’ for the purposes of calculating the protected area coverage of Australia. Terrestrial protected areas with NO overlaps will be allocated a value of “1”. As a general rule, where two PA’s overlap, the PA with the higher ranking (based on 'TYPE' and 'IUCN' category) will be allocated as “1” for the overlap field with the lower ranking PA allocated a value of “2”. For example, where a National Park (IUCN II) overlaps with a Nature Refuge (IUCN VI) the National Park will be allocated the value of “1” and the Nature Refuge will be allocated the value of “2”. For consistency with national scale products like IBRA and IMCRA (and area calculations for PA’s across state borders) DOEE applies a ‘clip’ to the state borders component of the Geoscience Australia COAST 100K dataset – and not the coastline. Each jurisdiction use their own, generally higher resolution, coastline dataset. When doing queries (especially spatial) and area calculations you need to be aware of this attribute. Users may wish to use the following SQL statement: Select * from CAPAD2016 where OVERLAP = '1' AND NRS_PA IN ('Y', 'I')

X_COORD: is the longitude in decimal degrees east within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.

Y_COORD: is the latitude in decimal degrees south within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.

MGT_PLAN: The code of the status of the management plan for the protected area.
Definitions include:
P - In Preparation - Some form of management document was being prepared.
D - Draft - A draft management document was released for comment by the public, management board or equivalent.
S - Statutory - Enabling legislation establishes the management of a protected area and separate management document is not required.
I - Management Intent - A formal statement of management intent has been prepared that clearly sets out the management objectives for the protected area but includes little else.
M - Management Plan - A formally adopted management plan that has been through consultation and contains strategies and actions for implementation for this protected area. 
R - Regional Plan - A formally adopted management plan has been through consultation and contains general strategies and actions for implementation over a group of protected areas.
N - Unknown - No form of management document could be found.
UR - Under Review - The management plan is under review

RES_NUMBER: The reserve number (if declared) as used by the controlling authority. IPA Reserve numbers are allocated by DOEE.

EPBC: This identifies if the reserve can be considered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It will be used to identify Commonwealth features for inclusion in the Protected Matters Search Tool. 
Commonwealth = Commonwealth reserve (either a Commonwealth National Park, Commonwealth Botanic Garden or Antarctic protected/managed reserve) – as outlined in Section 342 of the Act.
Private = Privately managed reserve – identified by ‘Governance = P'
State = State managed reserve – as supplied by State/Territory authority

OBJECTID *, Shape *, SHAPE.AREA and SHAPE.LEN are automatically generated ESRI attributesCC - Attribution (CC BY)
This dataset is available under the CC-BY data licencing model and users are required to acknowledge the Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy as the source of the data in any of their uses. When citing the data please use ‘Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2016, Commonwealth of Australia 2017’.
The data is supplied to the Commonwealth for compilation by States and Territories of Australia and custodianship rests with the source agencies. A list of the agencies is available in the acknowledgements section of the metadata entry.
 
This CAPAD data has been supplied to the Commonwealth for compilation over a 3 month time frame and has taken several months to get to publication stage. Please note that the information supplied is not up-to-date at the time of publication and release by the Commonwealth.
 
It is the responsibility of the person using the CAPAD dataset to always check the metadata for the currency date within each jurisdiction and if required seek advice from the individual agencies on details of more recent gazettals of protected areas.
 
Due to privacy issues in relation to some covenants on private lands, these data in some jurisdictions are not included in the spatial data.
© Commonwealth of Australia (Department of the Environment and Energy) 2017

Tags: BOUNDARIES, BOUNDARIES_Conservation, Downloadable Data, LAND Geography_Conservation, LAND Geography_Reserve, LAND_Conservation
Organization: Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water