The great barrier reef in australia.

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COUNTRY Australia - Queensland

NAME Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (includes Great Barrier Reef Marine Park)

IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY

V (Protected Landscape)

Natural World Heritage Site - Criteria i, ii, iii, iv

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE 6.01.01 (Queensland Coastal)

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area extends for more than 2,000km off the east coast of Australia, from just south of the Tropic of Capricorn to the coastal waters of Papua New Guinea 24�'N-10�'S, 145�'-154�'E.

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 provides for the establishment, control, care and development of a Marine Park covering 98.5% of the Great Barrier Reef Region as defined in that Act. Parts of Green Island (1937) and Heron Island (1943) were gazetted as national parks under the State Forests and National Parks Act 1903-1948 (Queensland). Heron-Wistari and Green Island Marine Parks (1974), gazetted under the Forestry Act 1959-1976 (Queensland), were the first Marine Parks on the reef.

Areas of the region may be declared as part of the Marine Park and subsequently zoned. In 1976 these powers were transferred to the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1976 and Fisheries Act 1976, respectively. The first section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the Capricornia Section, was proclaimed in 1979. The Cairns and Cormorant Pass sections were declared as part of the Marine Park in late 1981 and the remainder of the Marine Park in subsequent years. The whole area was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981.

AREA World Heritage Area 34,870,000ha (includes Far North, Cairns, Central and Mackay Capricorn Sections), Marine Park 33,126,500ha. The islands that form part of Queensland are not covered by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act and are not included as part of the Marine Park, but are...