Find out more about Outback Australia, the country’s national network of marine sanctuaries, and the success of Indigenous conservation.
Outback Australia
The Outback is Australia’s beating heart—not merely a place of mythology, but the living, thriving core of the nation. With an area of 5.6 million square kilometres, it covers more than 70% of the continent, from the rugged Kimberley to the wetlands of Kakadu, from the rainforests of Cape York Peninsula to the sand dune deserts and iconic Uluru in central Australia, from the ephemeral inland river systems and lakes of the Channel Country and Lake Eyre Basin to the temperate Great Western Woodlands of Australia’s south-west biodiversity hot spot.
Only a few largely intact expanses of nature remain on Earth, and the healthy, biologically diverse Outback is one of them, along with the Amazon rainforest and the vast conifer forests of northern Canada and Siberia. The Outback represents one of the greatest conservation challenges and opportunities in Australia’s history.
For more than 50,000 years, people have lived in and shaped the landscapes of the Outback. From the time that humans first inhabited the continent, much of the region’s nature has benefited from hands-on management, particularly in the use of fire.
Today the heart of Australia is at a crossroads. The Outback’s health is vulnerable to the expansion of industrial activities, particularly mining, and the impact of uncontrolled bush fires, noxious weeds, and feral animals.
Our Goals
Pew works to protect large areas of terrestrial and marine ecosystems worldwide. We identify the causes and consequences of environmental problems, design policy solutions and mobilise public support.
Our goal is to ensure that all areas of high conservation value in the Outback are protected, and that surrounding areas are managed to support conservation across the whole landscape.
Pew is partnering with Traditional Owners, pastoralists, conservation groups, scientists, industry and local communities to ensure that all Australians can continue to visit, explore and enjoy these special places, which contribute significantly to the nation’s wellbeing.
Australia’s network of marine sanctuaries
In southwest Australia, underwater mountain ranges 7,000 metres in height and vast submarine canyons support an extraordinary range of unique marine life. In some areas, as much as 90% of this life is found nowhere else. Marine sanctuaries, stretching from Kangaroo Island in South Australia to Geraldton in Western Australia, safeguard two of only three places in the country where the endangered blue whale comes to feed.
Buffering the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea is one of the last remaining places on Earth supporting healthy populations of big fish such as marlin, deep-water sharks, whales and other ocean giants. The Coral Sea Marine Reserve, almost half the size of Queensland, includes a huge sanctuary for marine life and one of the largest recreational fishing zones in the world.
Sanctuaries off the Kimberley shore provide an insurance policy for untouched reefs and a vital migratory pathway for humpback whales and majestic whale sharks. Across the Top End in the Northern Territory, sanctuaries protect fish feeding and breeding areas and buffer marine life from potential oil spills.
We worked with partners to secure the world’s largest network of marine parks, circling the Australian landmass. This national network of 44 new parks was first announced in 2012, and operational by 2018, with a total protected area of 3.37 million square kilometres. In 2013, we achieved Australia’s first state-based marine park network, with 19 marine parks and 83 sanctuaries declared in the waters off South Australia.
Our Goals
Pew is working to secure the long-term health and future of Australia’s oceans through the ongoing management of a national network of marine sanctuaries to protect the diversity of life beneath the waves. We have led a coalition of conservation, community, and scientific groups to secure Australia’s network of marine parks, including specific protections in diverse ecosystems in the Coral Sea and the tropical seas off the Kimberley coast.
Pew takes an evidence-based approach to demonstrate the importance of marine sanctuaries and the economic, environmental, and social benefits they provide for all Australians. Working alongside dive tourism operators, anglers, local communities, businesses and marine scientists, we aim to ensure that the nation’s network of marine sanctuaries is effective well into the future.
Indigenous conservation and culture
A great conservation success story has been unfolding over the past decade across northern and central Australia. The country’s Indigenous peoples, often in extremely challenging situations, are actively expressing their living culture and strong desire to be living on and managing their land and sea country.
Indigenous Australians are increasingly choosing to safeguard their native title lands as Indigenous Protected Areas—the equivalent of a national park. This involves a partnership not just with the Commonwealth Government but with all Australians: Training and jobs on country are secured, and the shared natural heritage is cared for and protected.
Underpinned by federal funding of hundreds of positions across the country, ranger jobs provide secure employment and are the front line in combating threats to nature, including uncontrolled wildfires, feral animals, and invasive weeds.
Indigenous-led conservation now accounts for more than 50% of Australia’s National Reserve System. This includes some of the nation’s most biodiverse areas, which have been identified by scientists as of high importance for conservation. Combining traditional knowledge of the land and modern science, Indigenous Rangers are caring for the country in a way that not only sustains their cultural heritage but also creates a lasting legacy for the nation’s natural heritage as well.
Our Goals
Pew actively supports Indigenous communities and organisations in their desire to have their people live on their country and manage it for environmental, cultural, and economic benefit.
In 2011, Pew partnered with the Indigenous Land Corporation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Australian Government to purchase Fish River Station for conservation management by Indigenous Rangers via a co-operative partnership with the Traditional Owners of the property.
Pew has actively supported the land and sea management work of Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation, Desert Support Services (formerly Central Desert Land and Community Team), and the Ngadju Nation, among others.
We continue to work with a range of partners to support increased and more secure funding for Indigenous Ranger programs and Indigenous Protected Areas across Australia through our support of the Country Needs People alliance.
Carbon farming and pastoral reform
Large areas of the Australian Outback have historically been utilised for grazing purposes—predominantly sheep farming—and are now degraded, with many landholders finding that existing pastoral lease requirements are forcing them to maintain high grazing levels despite significantly reduced productivity.
Reforms are required that enable landholders to properly manage these lands, restoring degraded landscapes whilst generating income. One such method is through carbon farming initiatives, which work the land to maximize the amount of carbon stored in the native vegetation and soil.
In 2018, carbon farming operations were authorised on pastoral properties across Western Australia following work by Pew in partnership with pastoralists, Aboriginal land managers, the broader community and the Western Australian Government.
Carbon farming effectively pays landholders to regenerate native vegetation by reducing the number of grazing cattle and sheep, overabundant native kangaroos and feral animals such as goats, donkeys, horses and camels. This helps native shrubs and trees to regenerate, which means they then absorb and store more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By adhering to specific guidelines, the landowners gain carbon credits, which they can then sell to companies that are seeking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Pew works with a range of partners such as conservancies, pastoral leaseholders and industry associations to develop and promote conservation projects across Outback landscapes, such as advocating for increased funding for carbon farming operations.
Our Goals
Pew is working to ensure significant and growing areas of land are dedicated for conservation and restoration in formal conservation agreements. We are also working with governments and conservation partners to develop new and robust carbon methods that will support larger scale restoration in the Outback.