Indigenous Protected Area

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Ngarrabullgin
Indigenous Protected Area
Yaua waterhole after rain, Angas Downs IPA

An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of

National Reserve System.[1][2] The areas may comprise land and sea, and are managed by Indigenous groups for the conservation of biodiversity. Managing IPAs also helps to protect the cultural values of their country for future generations, and has benefits for Indigenous health, education, economic and social cohesion.[3]

As of 2020, there were 78 IPAs, covering around 46.53% of the National Reserve system.[4] In September 2021, a further seven IPAs were declared, which will lead to IPAs comprising more than half of Australia's National Reserve System.[5]

Indigenous rangers are employed to work in IPAs as well as in other remote areas of Australia, on land management and related projects.[6]

History

During the 1990s the Australian Government was working in cooperation with State and Territory Governments to build a National Reserve System aimed at protecting, for future generations, a representative sample of Australia's diverse range of flora, fauna and eco-systems.[7]

As part of this effort, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander owners of lands and seas were asked, and many who were interested in re-establishing effective indigenous land management agreed to participate in this endeavour.[7]

At a national conference of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders held in 1997, it was agreed and resolved by the delegates present that a new class of "Indigenous" protected area should be formed as follows:[8]

An Indigenous Protected Area is [to be] governed by the continuing responsibilities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to care for and protect lands and waters for present and future generations... Indigenous Protected Areas may include areas of land and waters over which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are

custodians, and which shall be managed for cultural biodiversity
and conservation, permitting customary sustainable resource use and sharing of benefit.

The first trialling of this new environmental partnership aimed at adding the new class of Protected Areas to Australia's National Reserve System, was with the

Gammon Ranges National Parks to be managed as an Indigenous Protected Area.[7][9]
[10]

The land selected for the first proposed Indigenous Protected area was held by the

traditional owner.[11]

By 2007 the kind of partnership agreed and started with the Nantawarrina Indigenous Protected Area had grown to include 23 declared Indigenous Protected Areas covering close to 170,000 km2 (66,000 sq mi), or 23 per cent of the National Reserve System. By agreeing to establish Indigenous Protected Areas, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples contributed two-thirds of all new additions to Australia's National Reserve System over the decade 1997–2007.[7]

In July 2012,

bushfires and climate change.[13]

Two new areas were declared in Western Australia in 2020, bringing the total number to 78.[14]

In September 2021, a further seven IPAs were declared, which will lead to IPAs comprising more than half of Australia's National Reserve System.[5]In September 2021, a further seven IPAs were declared, which will lead to IPAs comprising more than half of Australia's National Reserve System.[5]

In May 2022, the incoming Labor government under Anthony Albanese committed to boosting the funding for managing the IPAs to the tune of A$10 million annually; also to doubling the number of Indigenous rangers to 38,000 by 2030, and also to improving gender diversity in employment.[15]

Criteria and description

Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander land and sea owners (including

native title holders) may be encouraged, or themselves apply to the Australian Government to establish an Indigenous Protected Area on their lands/seas. However, an Indigenous Protected Area can only come into existence where:[1]

Most IPAs are dedicated under IUCN Categories 5 and 6, which promote a balance between conservation and other sustainable uses to deliver social, cultural and economic benefits for local Indigenous communities.

Indigenous rangers are employed to work in IPAs as well as in other remote areas of Australia, on land management and related projects.[6]

IPA data

IPA data is available online from several sources.

List of Indigenous Protected Areas

Federal

New South Wales

New South Wales IPAs include:[21]

Northern Territory

Northern Territory IPAs include:[22]

Queensland

Queensland IPAs include:

South Australia

South Australian IPAs include:[27]

Tasmania

Tasmanian IPAs include:[29]

Victoria

Victorian IPAs include:[30][31][32]

  • Deen Maar Indigenous Protected Area
  • Framlingham Forest Indigenous Protected Area
  • Kurtonitj Indigenous Protected Area
  • Lake Condah Indigenous Protected Area
  • Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area

Western Australia

Western Australian IPAs include:[33][14][3]

New areas declared September 2021:[5]

2020: New IPAs

As of 2022, there are 20 new proposed IPAs under consultation at the following locations:[35]

  • Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, Northern Territory (Tiwi Land Council)
  • Haasts Bluff
    , south-west Northern Territory (Central Land Council)
  • Mamu Wet Tropics, far north Queensland (Mamu Aboriginal Corporation)
  • Arafura Swamp, north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation)
  • Maralinga Tjarutja Lands, western South Australia (Oak Valley (Maralinga) Aboriginal Corporation)
  • Mimal, south-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (Mimal Land Management).[36][37]
  • Wuthathi Shelburne Bay, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland (Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation)
  • Olkola, central Cape York Peninsula
    , Queensland (Olkola Aboriginal Corporation)
  • Crocodile Islands Maringa, north-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (Milingimbi & Outstations Progress Resource Association)
  • Pila Nguru
    Aboriginal Corporation)

Awards

The World Future Council (WFC) awarded the Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers programs with the"Bronze Future Policy Award 2017: Desertification".[38][39]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Fact Sheets: Indigenous Protected Areas". Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  2. ^ "National Reserve System". Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Indigenous Protected Areas". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 4 September 2021. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under an Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) licence.
  4. ^ a b c "Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs)". National Indigenous Australians Agency. Retrieved 4 September 2021. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. (See notice.)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "A Huge Win for Country – Seven New Indigenous Protected Areas". Country Needs People. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Indigenous Ranger Program". National Indigenous Australians Agency. Retrieved 1 February 2020. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
  7. ^ , retrieved 8 May 2008
  8. ^ "Background on Indigenous Protected Areas". Archived from the original on 23 July 2008.
  9. ^ a b Australia, Parks. "Indigenous Protected Areas: Nantawarrina. Case study". Environment.gov.au. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Contact". Nepabunna. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Nantawarrina, the first IPA in Australia". indigenous.com.au. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  12. ^ "Australia's biggest protected area declared". ABC. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  13. ^ "A Stunning Accomplishment at Southern Tanami". The Nature Conservancy in Australia. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  14. ^ a b Snow, Madison (10 October 2020). "Goldfields and Great Sandy Desert sites add 7 million hectares to Indigenous Protected Areas". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Doubling Indigenous Rangers". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  16. ^ "CAPAD: protected area data". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Australian Government.
  17. ^ "Protected Areas (WDPA)". Protected Planet. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Australia". Protected Planet. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Caring for country - Indigenous Protected Areas land managers meet at Booderee". Department of the Environment and Energy. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  20. S2CID 130712967
    .
  21. ^ "Declared Indigenous Protected Areas in New South Wales". Department of the Environment. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  22. ^ "Declared Indigenous Protected Areas in the Northern Territory". Department of the Environment. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  23. ^ "Dhimurru". Country Needs People. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Katiti Petermann Indigenous Protected Area Declared". The Central Land Council. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  25. ^ "Indigenous Land and Sea Management Projects". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  26. ^ a b c d e "Declared Indigenous protected areas in Queensland". environment.gov.au. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  27. ^ "Declared Indigenous Protected Areas in South Australia". Department of the Environment. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  28. ^ Neagle, N. (2009). "A Biological Survey of the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area, South Australia, 2007 – 2008" (PDF). Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  29. ^ "Declared Indigenous Protected Areas in Tasmania". Department of the Environment. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  30. ^ "Declared Indigenous Protected Areas in Victoria". Department of the Environment. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  31. ^ "Indigenous land and sea management projects". National Indigenous Australians Agency. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  32. ^ "Framlingham Forest IPA". National Indigenous Australians AgencyVic Projects. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  33. ^ UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2022), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) [Online], May 2022, Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net.
  34. ^ "Birriliburu IPA - Central and Southern region". National Indigenous Australians Agency WA projects. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  35. ^ "Indigenous Protected Areas". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  36. ^ "Mimal Land Management". Mimal Land Management. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  37. ^ Bardon, Jane (29 February 2020). "The gas field so big it could knock Australia off course from our climate target". ABC News (Background Briefing). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  38. ^ "Bronze Future Policy Award 2017: Desertification". Indigenous.gov.au. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  39. ^ "2017: Desertification". World Future Council. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2020.

Further reading

External links