The weakness of wilderness protection policy

Abstract

There is no legislated national wilderness designation in Australia, though wilderness is a component of protected-area planning in particular States. Wilderness is hence largely a descriptive rather than a legal term. Wilderness is an important concept in Australia environmental and land management policy, however. Indeed, one of the country's four principal non-government organizations is named The Wilderness Society.

My aim here is not to review the history of wilderness science and politics in Australia, but simply to summarize major current issues and controversies. These fall into three principal categories: - the National Wilderness Inventory (NWI) - recreational pressures on wilderness in protected areas - political controversy over future management of wilderness in public forests.