Arnhem Land is one of the most biodiverse regions in Australia. Through ranger programs and targeted locally-led conservation actions, First Nations peoples here are able to actively combat the risks that threaten the survival of vital native ecosystems.
Biodiversity is utterly essential to human health and wellbeing, climate goals and sustainable development, without it we are at risk of widespread ecocollapse. Across the world, the leading cause of biodiversity loss is land clearing, occurring primarily in urban and agricultural areas. However, in Australia, contemporary declines in biodiversity are now occurring in very remote places too, far from large towns and cities. Since these areas are often afforded better protection from deforestation, fracking and other exploits through legislation like the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, biodiversity loss is instead led by the incursion of invasive plants and feral animals; unmanaged wildfires; and interrupted traditional land management.
In 2021, 533 animal species and 1,385 plant species were considered threatened in Australia, with 53% of these listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered. Devastatingly, these figures have continued to rise every year since. These trends are affecting this vast continent in varied ways. Northern Australia is home to the majority of Australia’s savanna woodlands, which are among the least altered and unpolluted in the world. These large, intact ecosystems were once considered a vital safe haven for many mammal species that have suffered severe post-colonisation declines elsewhere. However, the 20 mammal species most at risk from extinction in the next two decades mostly occur in northern Australia, indicating that even the most biodiverse regions of Australia are now under serious threat.
KKT supports community-owned and led conservation projects that have been purposefully designed to support First Nations land management; restore traditional ecological knowledge; and protect and regenerate native biodiversity across West and Central Arnhem Land.
