Indigenous rangers

Indigenous ranger programs enable First Nations people across Australia to protect and manage their land, sea and culture through a combination of traditional knowledge with Western science and conservation practices.

Introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program, 127 ranger groups are employed in Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) and other parts of Australia.

Background and history
Many of Australia's threatened species and ecosystems are located on IPAs and/or in remote parts of Australia. The federal Working on Country program was established by the Howard government in 2007, with the aim of creating meaningful employment, training and career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in managing land and sea areas, as well as maintaining their cultures, and sharing their skills and knowledge with others. In turn, this would generate jobs in the environmental, biosecurity, heritage and other sectors.

the scheme had created more than 1900 full-time, part-time and casual jobs for Indigenous people across the country, across 127 ranger groups.

These groups are supported by Country Needs People, an alliance of more than 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and more than 95,000 individuals, campaigning for the growth and security of Indigenous ranger jobs and Indigenous Protected Areas.

Funding
The Australian Government, has been funding Indigenous ranger groups since 2007. By 2018 the government was committing A$250 million until 2021, supporting 118 ranger groups. There had been significant advocacy for the increased annual funding for both Indigenous ranger and Indigenous Protected Area programs, the establishment of a long-term target of 5,000 ranger positions nationally, and extension of contract lengths to at least ten years for greater stability. This led to a funding increase of A$359 million, a total of $1.3 billion from 2021 to 2028 to double the number of Indigenous rangers by 2030 from 1,900 to 3,800 by 2030.