The Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2014 provides both spatial and text information about government, indigenous and privately protected areas for continental Australia. State and Territory conservation agencies supplied data current to 30 June 2014. This is the ninth version of the database, with previous versions released in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

The Department also publishes protected areas data for the marine environment. "CAPAD 2014-marine" contains spatial and text information about offshore protected areas, for both State and Commonwealth waters. Previous versions of CAPAD marine information have been published in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

CAPAD provides a snapshot of protected areas that meet the IUCN definition of a protected area:

"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 department publishes a summary of the CAPAD data biennially on its website at http://www.environment.gov.au/capad/

This version of CAPAD 2014 is a public and downloadable version of CAPAD 2014 data, available for use through the CC-BY licencing model.

Main attributes in the full version of CAPAD 2014 include:

PA_ID: The protected area ID code. Created from RES_NUMBER if unique, otherwise it is a DoE generated number.

NAME: the name of the protected area. Gazetted PAs with no name are flagged as "Unnamed" with a reserve number.

TYPE: the type of protected area according to the protected area establishment mechanism.

TYPE_ABBR: the abbreviation of the TYPE.

AA Aboriginal Area

ACCP Conservation Covenant

ASMA Antarctic Specially Managed Area

ASPA Antarctic Specially Protected Area

BG Botanic Gardens

CA Conservation Area

CCA Coordinated Conservation Area

CCAZ1 CCA Zone 1 National Park

CCAZ3 CCA Zone 3 State Conservation Area

COR Coastal Reserve

CP Conservation Park

CR Coastal Reserve

FLR Flora Reserve

FR Forest Reserve

GR Game Reserve

HA Heritage Agreement

HIR Historical Reserve

HPOT Biodiversity Hotspot

HR Heritage River

HS Historic Site

HTR Hunting Reserve

IPA Indigenous Protected Area

KCR Karst Conservation Reserve

MA Management Agreement

MAA Management Agreement Area

MCP National Parks Act Schedule 4 park or reserve

MNP Marine National Park

MR Miscellaneous Reserve

MS Marine Sanctuary

NAP Nature Park

NCA Natural Catchment Area

NCR Nature Conservation Reserve

NFR Natural Features Reserve

NP National Park

NPA National Park Aboriginal

NPC National Park (Commonwealth)

NR Nature Reserve

NRA Nature Recreation Area

NREF Nature Refuge

NRS NRS Addition - Gazettal in Progress

OCA Other Conservation Area

OCA/NAP Other Conservation Area / Nature Park

OP Other

PA Protected Area

PNPA Proposed National Parks Act park or park addition

PNR Private Nature Reserve

PPP Permanent Park Preserve

PS Private Sanctuary

RA Reference Area

REP Regional Park

RNA Remote and Natural Area - not scheduled under NPA/Remote and Natural Area - Schedule 6, National Parks Act (Abbreviated as Remote and Natural Area - not scheduled under Nat Parks Act)

RP Recreation Park

RR Regional Reserve

S5G 5(1)(g) Reserve

S5H 5(1)(h) Reserve

SCA State Conservation Area

SP State Park

SR State Reserve

WPA Wilderness Protection Area

WP Wilderness Park

WZ Wilderness Zone

IUCN: the IUCN protected area management 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: managed mainly for science;

IB Wilderness Area: managed mainly for wilderness protection;

II National Park: managed mainly for ecosystem protection;

III Natural Monument: managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features;

IV Habitat / Species Management Area: managed mainly for conservation through management intervention;

V Protected Landscape / Seascape: managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation;

VI Managed Resource Protected Area: managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

GAZ_AREA: area in hectares as described in the nomination document (e.g. parliamentary gazettal), to the nearest hectare. Some protected areas do not have a specific area in the designation.

GIS_AREA: area in hectares based on current spatial data and an Albers equal area projection for Australia. Where protected area consists of multiple polygons (parts) the GIS_AREA is the sum of all the polygons with the same name, type, state and IUCN category. It is this field that is used to calculate the statistics provided in spreadsheets at: www.environment.gov.au/capad/

REPT_AREA is the same with GIS_AREA (previously REPT_AREA is in hectares from the GAZ_AREA attribute and if this is a null value then the GIS_AREA is used. For Protected areas with multiple records, REPT_AREA is a calculated by dividing GAZ_AREA by GIS_AREA of the total then applying this factor to the GIS_AREA of the record). Due to the fact that not all received data have REPT_AREA, it is incomplete and inconsistent if REPT_AREA is used for analysis.

GAZ_DATE: the first gazettal or proclamation date that established any protected area at this site.

LATEST_GAZ: the date of the most recent gazettal or proclamation to add land to the protected area. It can be the same date as the GAZ_AREA.

NRS_PA: This attribute indicates the status of the protected area as part of the National Reserve System (NRS). "Y" = Yes. A protected area located within the State and Territory jurisdiction "I" = an interim protected area - in the process of being gazetted/established. "N" = No. A protected area that does not meet the NRS criteria. "ND" = No Data. A protected area that does not meet NRS criteria, but compliments the NRS with sympathetic management.

STATE: The state is the state that the protected area is located in. EXT= protected areas located in Australian external territories.

AUTHORITY: The Authority responsible for the management of the protected area mechanism.

AAD Australian Antarctic Division

AC_SA Alexandrina Council

ACT_TAMSD ACT Territory and Municipal Services Directorate

AWC Australian Wildlife Conservancy

AWC & BA Australian Wildlife Conservancy & Birds Australia

BBT Bookmark Biosphere Trust

BHA Bush Heritage Australia

CCC_QLD Caloundra City Council

CR PTY LTD Conservation Reserves PTY LTD

DOE Australian Government, Department of the Environment

EAC_QLD Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation

EL Inc._NSW Enduring Landscapes Inc.

FC_NSW Forestry Commission of NSW

FPR Inc. Friends of the Porongurup Range (Inc)

GCC_NSW Gosford City Council

HCR_CMA Hunter - Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority

ILC_NT Indigenous Land Corporation

IMG Indigenous management group

IMG, LILC Indigenous management group and Local Indigenous Land Council

KRGC_NSW Ku-ring-gai Council

LHI_Board Lord Howe Island Board

LILC Local Indigenous Land Council

LVRC_Q_EPA Lockyer Valley Regional Council and QLD EPA

MINCA_QLD Magnetic Island Nature Care Association

NF SA Inc. Nature Foundation SA Inc

NSC_QLD Noosa Shire Council

NSW_OEH NSW Office of Environment and Heritage

NT_PWCNT Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT

QLD_DERM Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management

QLD_EHP Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection

QLD_EPA Queensland Environment Protection Agency

QLD_NPRSR Queensland Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing

SA_DEH South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage

SA_DEWNR South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources

F_SA Forestry South Australia

SCRC_QLD Sunshine Coast Regional Council

TAS_DPIPWE Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment

TAS_WPMT Wellington Park Management Trust Tasmania

TFN_VIC Trust for Nature (Victoria)

TLC Inc_TAS Tasmanian Land Conservancy Inc.

TSRA Torres Strait Regional Authority

TTTN The Trustee for the Trust for Nature

U. Ballarat University of Ballarat

VIC_DEPI Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries

WA_DPAW Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife

WAC Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation

WEC Worlds End Conservation Pty Ltd

DATASOURCE: Describes the source of the data for the protected area, values are:

AAD Australian Antarctic Division

ACT_TAMSD ACT Territory and Municipal Services Directorate

DOE Australian Government, Department of the Environment

DOE_NRSP Australian Government, Department of the Environment - National Reserve System Program

F_SA Forestry South Australia

FC_NSW Forestry Commission of NSW

LHI_Board Lord Howe Island Board

NSW_OEH NSW Office of Environment and Heritage

NT_PWCNT Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT

QLD_EHP Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection

QLD_NPRSR Queensland Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing

SA_DEWNR South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources

TAS_DPIPWE Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment

VIC_DEPI Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries

WA_DPAW Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife

GOVERNANCE: Records the type of governance that has management and decision making responsibility. G = Government, C = Community (conserved areas including indigenous peoples or local communities), J = Joint or P = Privately managed.

ENVIRON: A protected area gazetted as terrestrial may have a marine component and vice versa. A protected area can be 'T' terrestrial, marine 'M' and both 'B'. Terrestrial CAPAD 2014 contains 'T' and 'B'. Marine CAPAD 2014 contains 'M'.

OVERLAP: Shows whether or not the protected area is overlapped by another. Protected areas with a value of '1' are the primary protected area in that area. A protected area with a value of '2' is completely overlapped by another protected area.

X_COORD: is the longitude in decimal degrees east within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.

Y_COORD: is the latitude in decimal degrees south within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.

MGT_PLAN: The code of the status of the management plan for the protected area.

Definitions Include:

P - In Preparation - Some form of management document was being prepared.

D - Draft - A draft management document was released for comment by the public, management board or equivalent.

S - Statutory - Enabling legislation establishes the management of a protected area and separate management document is not required.

I - Management Intent - A formal statement of management intent has been prepared that clearly sets out the management objectives for the protected area but includes little else.

M - Management Plan - A formally adopted management plan that has been through consultation and contains strategies and actions for implementation for this protected area.

R - Regional Plan - A formally adopted management plan has been through consultation and contains general strategies and actions for implementation over a group of protected areas.

N - Unknown - No form of management document could be found.

RES_NUMBER: The reserve number (if declared) as used by the controlling authority.

OBJECTID *, Shape *, SHAPE.AREA and SHAPE.LEN are automatically generated ESRI attributes