Kakadu National Park is a mixed World Heritage
Site. It holds significance because of its vast natural
landscape of varied ecosystems, and it is famous for the
rock art sites which depict the human civilization from
long ago. It is the largest national park in Australia and
is situated 250 km from the east of Darwin. The rock art
sites are more than 1000 in number and are a symbol of
the various customs and social cultures. The paintings
are more than thousands of years old and indicate
the human civilization that existed before the ice age.
Aboriginal people have occupied this land since very
long; they make up a part of the management board
also. They use their traditional knowledge to save the
biodiversity and cultural values of the park.
Kakadu National Park has a significant ecosystem
and distinguished evidence of human civilization that
existed before the ice age; hence the property falls
under the category of mixed World Heritage sites,
having natural and cultural values. The park is located
in Northern Australia and got inscribed in 1981 (whc.
unesco.org). Kakadu National Park is the largest
conservation reserve of Northern Australia, which
includes the entire catchment of a significant tropical
monsoonal river system; situated at the north coast of
the Northern Territory of Australia, Kakadu National
Park is 250 km from east of Darwin (Banfai and Bowman
2006). Almost two-thirds of the area in the park has
lowland plains that are covered by the Alligator River
from the east, south, and west generally (Banfai and
Bowman 2006), and specifically, in the north, the park
is covered by the coastline. In contrast, the park has
Arnhem Land (Aboriginal land), which is recognized
as the artificial boundary in the east. The southern boundary is by the Mary River (Periodic Report Cycle
I 2003). The four major landforms of the park are
the southern hills and basins; Arnhem Land plateau;
escarpment complex; and Koolpinyah Surface (World
Heritage Nomination 1992). The national park has unique
ecosystems ranging from tidal flats to floodplains and
spectacular sandstone plateaux and escarpments (World
Heritage Nomination 1981).
The park has some 1000 archaeological sites depicting the Aboriginal people's culture and art (World Heritage Nomination 1981) which are thousands of years old (whc.unesco.org). These paintings indicate human civilization from a very long time ago, almost before the ice age. The paintings depict the perception about the hunting and gathering practices of the indigenous people, their customs and social structures dated back to the Pleistocene Epoch (whc.unesco.org). Paintings of animals like the Tasmanian wolf and the New Guinea species of spiny anteater are also represented in those sites; these species got extinct from Australia (World Heritage Nomination 1981). These cultural values have led the property to come under cultural criteria I and VI.
Kakadu National Park has a population of Aboriginal people residing in Northern Australia for very long. Their unique practice of fire management of wetlands is helping the park management manage and monitor the natural and cultural resources. By the practices of the traditional knowledge they have, the biodiversity and cultural values of the park have increased substantially (McGregor et al. 2010).
The wetlands of Kakadu National Park are highly undisturbed and are home to various threatened and endemic water birds; thus, the property is listed as a RAMSAR wetland site. Firstly the property was included in two entities in 1980 and 1989. On 28 April 2010, the two entities together got declared as a single RAMSAR site covering 600,000 ha (RAMSAR Wetland Convention). The park's wetlands are home to a great diversity of seasonal water birds, which is almost 2.5 million in number (World Heritage Nomination 1992).
Kakadu's art sites represent a unique artistic
achievement because of the wide range of styles used,
the large number and density of sites and the delicate and
detailed depiction of a wide range of human figures and
identifiable animal species, including animals long-extinct.
Kakadu's art sites represent a unique artistic achievement because of the wide range of styles used, the large number and density of sites and the delicate and detailed depiction of a wide range of human figures and identifiable animal species, including animals long-extinct.
Kakadu National Park contains a remarkable contrast between the internationally recognized Ramsar- listed wetlands and the spectacular rocky escarpment and its outliers. The vast expanse of wetlands to the north of the park extends over tens of kilometres and provides habitat for millions of waterbirds. The escarpment consists of vertical and stepped cliff faces up to 330 metres high and extends in a jagged and unbroken line for hundreds of kilometres. The plateau areas behind the escarpment are inaccessible by vehicle and contain large areas with no human infrastructure and limited public access. The views from the plateau are breathtaking.
The property incorporates significant elements of four major river systems of tropical Australia. Kakadu's ancient escarpment and stone country span more than two billion years of geological history, whereas the floodplains are recent, dynamic environments, shaped by changing sea levels and big floods every wet season. These floodplains illustrate the ecological and geomorphological effects that have accompanied Holocene climate change and sea level rise. The Kakadu region has had relatively little impact from European settlement, in comparison with much of the Australian continent. With extensive and relatively unmodified natural vegetation and largely intact faunal composition, the park provides a unique opportunity to investigate large-scale evolutionary processes in a relatively intact landscape. Kakadu's indigenous communities and their myriad rock art and archaeological sites represent an outstanding example of humankind's interaction with the natural environment.
The property incorporates significant elements of
four major river systems of tropical Australia. Kakadu's
ancient escarpment and stone country span more than
two billion years of geological history, whereas the
floodplains are recent, dynamic environments, shaped by
changing sea levels and big floods every wet season. These
floodplains illustrate the ecological and geomorphological
effects that have accompanied Holocene climate change
and sea level rise. The Kakadu region has had relatively
little impact from European settlement, in comparison
with much of the Australian continent. With extensive
and relatively unmodified natural vegetation and largely
intact faunal composition, the park provides a unique
opportunity to investigate large-scale evolutionary
processes in a relatively intact landscape. Kakadu's
indigenous communities and their myriad rock art and
archaeological sites represent an outstanding example of
humankind's interaction with the natural environment.
The park is managed by legislation, and some of
the board members are traditional Aboriginal owners.
The traditional owners of the park get involved in
the decision-making and planning of the park (IUCN
World Heritage Outlook 2020). The decisions and the
management plans work under the guidance and
support of the director of the park, according to the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act 1999. The management plans that focus on the
significant heritage features and how to maintain the
values of the sites also come under the duties of this
act. Any actions which may impact the property are
prohibited inside the park, and penalties apply if the
action is carried out without approval. The management
board and the tourism industry work together with
the Northern Territory and Australian governments'
support. In February 2005, the management launched a
tourism plan (State of Conservation Report 2005).
Despite various threats to the property, the State Party and the management board are trying their best to restore the park's property. The Ranger uranium mine, which lies within the park's boundaries, stopped in January 2021, giving an opportunity for the rehabilitation and restoration of the site (IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2020). An increment in the rainforest cover was also reported by Banfai and Bowman (2006). They stated that from 1964 to 2004, there was an increase of 28.8%, with an average absolute area change of 4.0 ha per patch (Banfai and Bowman 2006).
The most significant threat to the property is from the introduction of invasive species and fire. While surveying Kakadu National Park, Australia, it was found that 89 species of the park, which is 5.8% of the total vascular fauna, are invasive species. The threat of invasive species is increasing rapidly because of tourism, mining and roadways (Cowie and Werner 1993). Hyptis suaveolens, Sida acuta, Sida cordifolia, Alysicarpus vaginalis, Euphorbia hirta and Mimosa pigra are the invasive floral species (Cowie and Werner 1993). The African big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala), the tropical fire ant (Solenopsis geminata) (Hoffmann and O'Connor 2004).
The most noxious floral invasive species is Mimosa pigra, which is increasing rapidly and causing harm to the native species. A long-term management commitment is required to eradicate these perennial species (Cowie and Werner 1993). There are several invasive ant species, of which the African big-headed ant and the tropical fire ant are the deadliest and worst. These two species of ants have been successfully eradicated by a two-year post-treatment assessment process (Hoffmann and O'Connor 2004).
