Australia currently protects over 22% of its land and Indigenous Protected Areas are more than half of that. First Nations groups manage for Traditional Owners’ objectives, delivering benefits for all Australians and helping meet an international goal of “30 by 30” or protection of 30% of all lands and waters by 2030.

In many instances, the aboriginal understanding of mutual caring between people and Country helps link ecosystem health and human health, including not simply physical but mental, emotional, spiritual and social health measures. The Noongar and Ngadju Peoples of Western Australia are among the oldest living cultures on the planet.  (Photo: Noongar ranger, Nigel Eades at Nowanup , by Nic Duncan). Creating synergy between ‘Western’ science and ancestral paradigms helps repair industrial damages from the past two hundred years. That work began with revegetation and now includes remembering cultural burning techniques. This post’s title comes from the exhibition (koolark koort koorliny) of children’s art restored to Western Australia decades after the Lost Generation that was forced into boarding schools, yet another path toward reparations.

Sea Country IPAs also play a role in restoration. Ranger Christine Tchemijiri skippers a boat at Thamarrurr in the Northern Territory to help her colleagues maintain a healthy marine and coastal environment and protect cultural sites.

One-fifth of the Indigenous Australian population lives in remote areas where climate change risks both health and cultural ways of life. Indigenous-led initiatives on climate change adaptation and emissions reduction are bringing traditional perspectives to bear on a modern crisis that effects all of us.