The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is committed to a vision of a healthy and resilient environment for a sustainable and prosperous Queensland.

The department’s key priorities are to:

• enhance Queensland’s ecosystems
• protect the Great Barrier Reef
• protect significant heritage places
• avoid, minimise or mitigate impacts to the environment.

Our responsibilities include:

• environmental protection—avoiding, minimising or mitigating impacts to the environment. We do this by applying and monitoring standards and regulations that guide the operation and control the activities of businesses and individuals that have, or can have, significant environmental impacts.
• species and ecosystem protection—protecting the integrity of Queensland’s ecosystems. We do this by ensuring the diversity and integrity of Queensland’s natural ecosystems are preserved and conservation status of native species are maintained or enhanced.
• Heritage protection—protecting Queensland’s heritage places. We do this by recognising our heritage and ensuring it is conserved, adaptively re-used and its value is promoted for present and future generations.