Identifying special or unique sites in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area for inclusion in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003

Abstract

A comprehensive and adequate network of protected areas requires the inclusion of both representative examples of different habitats, and special or unique sites. Thus, review of the zoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as part of the Representative Areas Program explicitly took special and unique sites into consideration as one aspect of maximising the comprehensiveness and adequacy of the final zoning network. Guiding principles were developed to assist with incorporating these sites into the network of highly protected, no-take areas as well as through other zoning arrangements in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003.