The Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) provides spatial and attribute information about government-vested protected areas (PAs) (both continental and off-shore PA's) for biodiversity conservation in different jurisdictions in Australia. Data were contributed by State/Territory nature and conservation agencies. This is the 4th version of the database, with previous versions released in 1997,1999 and 2000."A protected area is an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means" (IUCN 1994).The CAPAD spatial data is reported in the biennial publication "Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas In Australia", located on The Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DEW) website at https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/land/nrs/science/capad.Main attributes in the database include:NAME: official (gazetted) name of a PA or unofficial name. Gazetted PAs with no name are flagged as "Unnamed".TYPE: official gazetted designation of the PA.GAZ_AREA: area of PA described in the nomination document (eg. parliamentary gazettal), to the nearest hectare.GIS_AREA: area of PA based on current spatial data. Where PA's are made up of multiple polygons (parts) the gis_area is the sum of all the polygons.IUCN: the IUCN protected area category ascribed by the Managing authority, as outlined in the publication: CNPPA/WCMC "Guidelines for Protected Area management categories". Gland: IUCN, 1994. (ISBN: 2-8317-0201-1).Definitions include:IA Strict Nature Reserve: PA managed mainly for science;IB Wilderness Area: PA managed mainly for wilderness protection;II National Park: PA managed mainly for ecosystem protection;III Natural Monument: PA managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features;IV Habitat / Species Management Area: PA managed mainly for conservation through management intervention;V Protected Landscape / Seascape: PA managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation;VI Managed Resource Protected Area: PA managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.GAZ_DATE - original gazettal/ proclamation date.LATEST_GAZ - Date of most recent gazetted amendment or verification.Other attributes include: STATE (eg.NSW), AUTHORITY (eg.EA), COMMENTS (ancillary information, such as data source) and ENVIRON (terrestrial 'T', marine 'M' and both 'B').Credit:The data is supplied to the Commonwealth for compilation by States and Territories of Australia, as well as a number of large environmental NGOs. Custodianship rests with the source agencies.
