The Indigenous Desert Alliance is restoring biodiversity across the Australian desert

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 makes it the largest Indigenous-led conservation corridor on the planet. Murray and her network of 885 rangers have helped restore biodiversity to 140 million hectares (346 million acres) of land over the past four years using the practice of cultural burning, a cultural and ecological management practice that has been present in Aboriginal culture for millennia. The IDA administers this through its "Right Way Desert Fire" program. Murray discusses the various ways in which this cultural knowledge is shared among ranger teams and the IDA via the guidance of Traditional Owners, the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islands individuals with ancestral, physical, or spiritual ties to the land. Traditional Owners may accompany rangers to what's known as Country — the Indigenous concept of a holistic, living entity encompassing the physical land, waters, skies, and all living things — and direct where and how to burn, in part because the knowledge is passed down through oral storytelling. "We don't get handed down a manual or a handbook on how to do [the] right way of burning all that knowledge," Murray says. "And so we are very much [following] an oral history and showing practically what to do. So for that knowledge to get passed down, it requires spaces and times on Country to share." Murray emphasizes the vast amount of land the ranger network conserves, saying it's conservation for all Australians. "We're actually caring for such a big part of Australia, like a third of Australia, and we're caring for animals that really need our love and our care. And I think, instead of it being boxed into, 'Well, that's just Indigenous conservation. That's just over there,' or, 'That's just in the middle of Australia,' more of a different change of attitude to go, 'Well, there are some really committed professional people that are looking after animals and country,'" she says. "Australians should be proud of rangers. They should be proud of people working on the ground." Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here. Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky. Cover image of Samantha Murray, courtesy of the Earthshot Prize. —- Timestamps (00:00) Caring for Country (02:57) Importance of Cultural Burning (05:24) The Right Way Desert Fire Program (10:03) Knowledge Sharing on Country (13:22) Climate Change Impacts (21:34) Future Goals