Illawarra Region BIO Map Corridors: Priority Investment Areas

The Illawarra BIO Map covers a 112,942-hectare area defined by the Kiama, Shellharbour and Wollongong Local Government Areas in New South Wales, Australia. It was prepared by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water with funding from the NSW Environmental Trust. The map identifies 66,827 hectares of priority investment areas, comprising 13,980 hectares of core biodiversity areas and 52,847 hectares of corridors.

Use Cases

• Identify priority areas for biodiversity conservation funding based on mapped core areas and corridors.
• Plan landscape-scale ecological connectivity projects based on the network of state and regional biodiversity corridors.
• Inform stakeholder consultation and landholder engagement programs for voluntary conservation agreements.
• Analyze the distribution of biodiversity values across the Illawarra coastal plain, escarpment, and sandstone plateau.

Strengths

• Covers a defined 112,942-hectare study area.
• Identifies 66,827 hectares of mapped priority investment areas with a breakdown into 13,980 hectares of core area and 52,847 hectares of corridors.
• Informed by consultation with nine state government authorities, four local councils, and six non-government organizations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified; last updated metadata indicates a future date (2026-05-12).

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Collection Method

Mapping criteria were used to identify priority areas, informed by targeted stakeholder consultation.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-12 20:49:25.750779

Geography

Illawarra region, New South Wales, Australia, covering Kiama, Shellharbour, and Wollongong Local Government Areas.