Indigenous Rangers Protect 115M Hectares Across Australia

Denis Rose grew up fishing for eels in Budj Bim, home to one of the world's oldest aquaculture systems. As a boy in the 1970s, he could only watch as his ancestral lands in southwest Victoria were degraded, with his Gunditjmara people allowed to manage just two hectares of cemetery.

That heartbreak sparked a career. At 27, Rose became one of Australia's first Indigenous Rangers and began fighting for a revolutionary idea: let Traditional Owners lead conservation on their own lands.

The concept faced fierce resistance. Landowners feared a land grab, and government agencies insisted only they could manage protected areas properly.

Nearly three decades later, Rose's vision has transformed Australian conservation. More than 90 Indigenous Protected Areas now span 115 million hectares of land and sea, from tropical rainforests to coral reefs, protecting hundreds of threatened species including turtles, koalas and rare birds.

The first IPA launched in 1998 at Nantawarrina, South Australia, where Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners turned a former cattle station into protected habitat for yellow-footed rock wallabies. The pilot program proved that blending traditional knowledge with modern science could work.

Research backs up what Indigenous peoples have known forever. A recent study found that Indigenous-managed lands match or outperform government parks in maintaining forest cover, biodiversity and carbon storage. In Brazil's Amazon, deforestation dropped by 83 percent in indigenous territories compared to other land uses.

The Ripple Effect

Australia's IPA model is now inspiring First Nations communities worldwide. Groups in Canada and Central America are adapting the approach, showing how conservation and Indigenous self-determination can work together.

The program has survived multiple government changes and earned support from all political sides. It's given Traditional Owners the resources and authority to care for Country using knowledge passed down for tens of thousands of years.

Yet most non-Indigenous Australians have never heard of IPAs, even though they represent one of the country's greatest conservation success stories. These protected areas now cover an expanse larger than most countries, quietly safeguarding Australia's most iconic ecosystems.

From a boy who could only watch his homeland suffer, Denis Rose helped create a movement that's healing Country and showing the world a better way forward.