Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002:front:0:p19
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 51453–54383

a single Ramsar site encompassing the entire park. Appendix B summarises the Ramsar criteria of the park.

In March 1996, the parties to the Ramsar Convention agreed to establish an East Asian–Australasian Flyway to protect areas used by migratory shorebirds. The flyway provides for an East Asian–Australasian shorebird reserve network of sites that are critically important to migratory shorebirds. The wetlands of Kakadu are part of this reserve network.

Numerous migratory species that occur in the park are protected under international agreements which include the Bonn Convention for conserving migratory species, and Australia's migratory bird protection agreements with China (CAMBA), Japan (JAMBA) and the Republic of Korea (ROKAMBA) (Appendix C). Forty of the species listed under the Bonn Convention are found in Kakadu, as are 51 of the birds listed under CAMBA and 46 of the birds listed under JAMBA. Appendix D provides the EPBC Act listed migratory species that occur in the park.

The park encompasses all or most of three contiguous internationally recognised Important Bird Areas (Arnhem Plateau, Kakadu savanna and Alligator Rivers floodplain) substantially due to the presence of large numbers of globally threatened bird species.

     1.5                 Joint management

Joint management is a partnership between Bininj/Mungguy and government to share the land in Kakadu, and share responsibility for managing the land. Through joint management the partners work to protect the park's values and share it with the public, bringing together traditional knowledge and modern science, and creating opportunities for Bininj/Mungguy to be involved in park management at all levels, establish businesses and preserve their culture for future generations.

The lease of Aboriginal land associated with the declaration of Stage One of Kakadu National Park in 1979 set out terms for consultation with traditional owners. At the same time the government committed to manage all of the land in the park as if it were Aboriginal land.

This effectively commenced joint management of the park and joint management of protected areas in Australia. Kakadu was also one of the first formally co-managed protected area arrangements in the world (Zurba et al. 2012). Since the commencement of joint management, the relationship between the Director of National Parks and Bininj/Mungguy has matured and evolved to the joint management relationship it is today.

Joint management in Kakadu is formally based on a legal framework set in place by the NPWC Act (continued under the EPBC Act) and the Land Rights Act. The Land Rights Act provides for the granting of land to Aboriginal Land Trusts for the benefit of relevant Aboriginals (the traditional Aboriginal owners and other Aboriginals with rights of use and occupation) and requires land granted in the Alligator Rivers Region to be leased to the Director of National