Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00327:front:0:p51
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00327
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 146244–149329

performs functions and exercises powers in accordance with this plan.
Establishment of Commonwealth reserves
Commonwealth reserves, including Australian Marine Parks, are declared by proclamation by the Governor-General under the EPBC Act. The EPBC Act and the EPBC Regulations provide the legal basis and framework for management of Commonwealth reserves.
Commonwealth reserves can be declared over areas specified in s.344 of the EPBC Act, including the Commonwealth marine area as defined in s.24 of the Act (which extends generally from the three nautical mile limit of the coastal waters of the states and territories to the outer limit of Australia's exclusive economic zone). The Commonwealth marine area is also a matter of national environmental significance protected from significant impacts to the environment by Part 3 of the EPBC Act.
IUCN categories and management principles
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) sets out guidelines for categorising protected areas, which Australia and many other countries have adopted as a national standard. The EPBC Act requires Commonwealth reserves, and any zones into which a reserve is divided, to be assigned to one of the seven categories prescribed by the EPBC Regulations (r. 10.03H), which correspond to the categories identified by the IUCN:
 1. strict nature reserve (category Ia);
 2. wilderness area (category Ib);
 3. national park (category II);
 4. natural monument (category III);
 5. habitat/species management area (category IV);
 6. protected landscape/seascape (category V); or
 7. managed resource protected area (category VI).
Reserve management must be consistent with the relevant Australian IUCN reserve management principles prescribed for each category by Schedule 8 to the EPBC Regulations and set out below:
General administrative principles
Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the EPBC Regulations sets out general administrative principles applicable to all Commonwealth reserves. These principles underpin management approaches with regard to:
 1. community participation—management arrangements should, to the extent practicable, provide for broad and meaningful participation by the community, public organisations and private interests in designing and carrying out the functions of a reserve or zone;
 2. effective and adaptive management—management arrangements should be effective and appropriate to the biodiversity objectives and the socio-economic context of the reserve or zone. They should be adaptive in character to ensure a capacity to respond to uncertainty and change;
 3. the precautionary principle—a lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent degradation of the natural and cultural heritage of a reserve or zone where there is a threat of serious or irreversible damage;
 4. minimising impacts—the integrity of a reserve or zone is best conserved by protecting it from disturbance and threatening processes. Potential adverse impacts on the natural, cultural and social environment and surrounding communities