For Australia’s Indigenous Desert Alliance, caring for Country starts with a story
This week on the Mongabay Newscast, Samantha Murray, CEO of the Indigenous Desert Alliance, joins the program to discuss the IDA’s recent nomination for an Earthshot Prize. The alliance is a network of 70 ranger teams across the Australian desert, covering 270 million hectares (667 million acres), an area almost as large as Argentina. This […]
Australia's Indigenous Desert Alliance, known as the IDA, is a group of 70 ranger teams that cover an impressive 270 million hectares (667 million acres) of land in the Australian desert. This makes it the largest Indigenous-led conservation project in the world. Samantha Murray, the CEO of the IDA, recently joined the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the alliance's nomination for an Earthshot Prize.
The IDA has been successful in restoring biodiversity to 140 million hectares (346 million acres) of land over the past four years. They achieve this through the practice of cultural burning, a method that has been used in Aboriginal culture for centuries. The alliance administers this through their "Right Way Desert Fire" program.
Cultural burning is managed using the knowledge passed down through oral storytelling. Traditional Owners, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander individuals with ties to the land, play a crucial role in guiding the rangers. They may accompany the rangers on their journeys across the land, known as Country, to direct them on where and how to burn. This is because the knowledge is not handed down through manuals or handbooks but is instead shared through the oral history of storytelling.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
