Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002:front:0:p13
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but also captures the rich interconnections between land and people – they are inseparable. Professor of Anthropology, Deborah Bird Rose, describes this concept in the following way:

   'Indigenous people talk about country in the same way they talk about a person; they speak to country, sing to country, visit country, worry about country, feel sorry for country, and long for country. People say that country knows, hears, smells, takes notice, takes care, is sorry or happy .... country is a living entity with a yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness and a will toward life.' (Rose 1996)

Identification and recognition of the park's values ensures a shared understanding about what is most important about the reserve, and the value statement helps to focus management and planning on the important aspects. If the values are allowed to decline the park's purpose and significance would be jeopardised.

The foundation for managing these values and the related threats and management issues includes the protection provided by the EPBC Act. Under the EPBC Act the park is assigned an Australian International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category (national park) in this management plan, and the park must be managed in accordance with the management principles relevant to the assigned category and the obligations prescribed in the EPBC Regulations, and with regard to World Heritage, National Heritage and Ramsar listings.

       Table 1: Kakadu National Park Values Statement

Kakadu National Park – Values Statement

Background

Kakadu National Park is Aboriginal land located in the Top End of Australia's Northern Territory. It has been home to Indigenous people for more than 50,000 years. The people of this country, Bininj in the north and Mungguy in the south, have always cared for the land.

Kakadu is an ancient landscape of exceptional beauty and unique biodiversity. It stretches almost 20,000 square kilometres and is located at the convergence of four distinct bioregions: the Arnhem Plateau, Arnhem Coast, Darwin Coast and Pine Creek bioregions. Kakadu includes mangrove-fringed tidal plains in the north, vast floodplains, lowlands and the sandstone cliffs of the Arnhem Land escarpment. These landscapes undergo spectacular changes throughout the year with the passing of each of the six seasons of Kakadu. The park is home to a remarkable variety and concentration of wildlife, and many plants and animals are threatened or found nowhere else in the world.
The park was proclaimed under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 in three stages between 1979 and 1991 for the purposes of:
    * the preservation of the area in its natural condition
    * the encouragement and regulation of the appropriate use, appreciation and enjoyment of the area by the public.
The park is first and foremost home