10 deserts project

10 Deserts Projects is an indigenous led partnership that seeks to protect land of cultural and socio-economic importance to native Australian communities from the impacts of climate change.

Deserts are home to unique species and diverse ecosystems. Spanning 35% of Australia in total, these arid landscapes hold particular significance to Indigenous communities who have occupied it for millennia. Today, these deserts and their future are under threat. Increased frequency and intensity of droughts, wildfires, and the prevalence of invasive species, coupled with inadequate resources to mitigate these, present themselves as challenges that must be overcome. Deserts are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: a process which has contributed to (if not driven) many of these issues being faced.

Led byt the Indigenous Desert Alliance (IDA), The 10 Deserts Project represents an Indigenous-led partnership which recognises the cultural value of deserts, wanting to ensure a sustainable future for both the landscapes and these communities. Equipped with traditional cultural and ecological knowledge, including effective land management, this initiative wants to unlock the potential for sustainable growth by creating employment opportunities for Indigenous groups, securing livelihoods as rangers while managing the land, but also encouraging tourism too which could generate additional funding for the various schemes underway with the 10 Deserts Project.

An example of one of their missions is to better understand effective fire management strategies and promote the sharing of knowledge between different groups: from agencies and communities regionally, to nations. By opening up this dialogue, they have been able to observe how small-scale controlled fires can reduce the risk of widespread wildfires in the desert, thereby making them more fire-resilient and diverse landscapes by removing some of the fires’ fuel.

These strategies overseen by the Project represent an attempt to improve the resilience of Australia’s deserts while also working to amplify the voices of Indigenous groups, recognising collaboration and the exchanging of knowledge as essential in deserts’ conservation.

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