Australia’s top end Island designated as an indigenous protected area

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Federal Government signed a deal to designate the Tiwi Islands as an Indigenous Protected Area. It's part of the Commonwealth's plan to significantly increase the proportion of the country protected by conservation laws. But locals said the decision was just as significant for employment purposes as well.

Transcript

00:00From Canberra all the way to Wurrameunga.

00:05An agreement for land management on the Tiwi Islands to be handed over to First Nations people.

00:11It's very important for the Tiwi to know about the IPA, the Indigenous Protected Area.

00:19The Tiwis are now Australia's 93rd IPA,

00:22around 85% of which have local rangers taking on responsibilities such as biosecurity and fire management.

00:29For senior rangers, like James DeSantis, that designation means more opportunities to mentor high school students into junior rangers.

00:37It is a big project for us rangers and we all enjoy it.

00:41The young junior rangers, they love it when we come out there and give them a hand.

00:47It feels good, yeah. Get out and go out and see the country all over, yeah.

00:52The establishment of the Tiwi Islands IPA comes at a time of rapid expansion for conservation efforts across Australia.

00:58This year, the Australian Federal Government set itself a target of conserving or protecting 30% of Australia's land mass by the year 2030.

01:06And it also wants to double the number of rangers charged with protecting many of those areas.

01:11This is part of that process of putting more rangers on country and making sure that, you know, our young people stay employed,

01:21that they're doing work that they enjoy doing and that's protecting and looking after their country.

01:28conservation, giving cause for celebration.

01:35progression.

01:37Yeah.

01:37yeah, yeah.

01:38Yeah.

01:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:40Yeah!

01:41Yeah, yeah, yeah!

01:42Yeah!

01:43Yeah!

01:44Yeah!

01:45combustion.

01:46Yeah!

01:47Yeah.

01:48Yeah, yeah, yeah!

01:49Yeah.

01:50Yeah, it's like a couple of Victory Falls, that's so bad.

01:51aptly.

01:52Yeah, yeah.

01:53Alright,

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