Management of areas

“The managers of these wonderful places bring passion and commitment to the ideals of the World Heritage convention and combine the needs of protection with the desire to share these treasures with the rest of the world.  It is the work of these frontline rangers and managers, and communities that support them, that will be critical in determining the long-term survival of our global heritage”. Valentine, P (2019) Australia’s World Heritage Sites, NLA Publishing, Canberra.

The majority of the World Heritage areas in Queensland are protected in national parks. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is committed to working in partnership with First Nations peoples to support a world class management framework to manage and protect these special areas.

Australia has an overarching management framework for World Heritage areas that includes:

  • The Australian World Heritage Intergovernmental Agreement—outlines roles and responsibilities of Australian, state and territory governments and forms the basis for the Project Agreement for World Heritage Management.
  • The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999—provides key legislation for protecting World Heritage values.
  • Australian World Heritage Advisory Committee—includes representatives from each Australian World Heritage area who share information on best practice management.
  • Australian World Heritage Indigenous Network—provides an Indigenous perspective on managing Australia’s World Heritage areas.

A range of State laws also apply such as the Nature Conservation Act 1992, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 and the Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Act 2003.

The Queensland Government provides state-wide coordination of World Heritage matters, policy and strategic planning and consistent inter-governmental and cross-jurisdictional advice on World Heritage matters in accordance with the Australian World Heritage Intergovernmental Agreement.

The Queensland Government also coordinates advisory committees to enable First Nations, community and scientific experts to provide input into matters of importance to the management of the World Heritage areas. Advisory committees are responsible for advising the Australian and state government Ministers responsible for the Environment and their respective managing agencies on matters relating to identifying, protecting, conserving, presenting, and transmitting World Heritage values. See Queensland’s World Heritage areas for more information about the advisory committee membership for each World Heritage area.

Opportunities to be involved in advisory committees are promoted when available, with new advisory committees recruited every three years. If you would like to be on the mailing list to receive information about advisory committee opportunities, please email world.heritage@des.qld.gov.au.