New research from Charles Darwin University has found that gaps in conservation planning in the Northern Territory could undermine efforts to protect biodiversity as investment in solar and wind energy accelerates.
The study reviewed the Territory’s existing formal conservation planning against the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, a national framework used to identify gaps in protected areas and track conservation goals.
It found that about two thirds of the NT’s bioregions fall short of the minimum target of 30 per cent protected, with many of these areas located on pastoral leasehold land, which covers 44 per cent of the Territory.
Lead author and CDU PhD candidate Billee McGinley, from CDU’s Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, said the findings highlighted the importance of conservation planning alongside development.
“Conservation planning identifies and connects important habitats across landscapes beyond isolated protected areas,” McGinley said.
She said it helps capture critical habitat for threatened and endemic species and supports species that need large ranges or refuges during climatic extremes.
The research pointed to central parts of the NT, particularly the Barkly region and areas south of Tennant Creek, as requiring urgent attention to avoid cumulative impacts from solar and wind development, land clearing for cotton, and onshore gas projects.
McGinley said conservation planning could help manage these combined pressures. “It offers a safeguarding approach in regional planning to foster resilient landscapes and help manage cumulative effects of development, avoiding what is often described as ‘death by a thousand cuts’,” she said.
The paper also argued that clearer conservation planning could benefit industry. “Conservation planning is good for biodiversity and business,” McGinley said, adding that clearer guidance on areas to avoid could save time and money for developers by reducing community and investor concerns later in the process.
The study noted that species such as the Greater Bilby, which is listed as Vulnerable under national environmental law, could be at increased risk without stronger planning in regions earmarked for large-scale solar development.
The research, titled Gaps in conservation planning in the Northern Territory of Australia: preparing for the energy transition, was published in the Australasian Journal of Environmental Management.
