Indigenous Protected Areas make up over 44% of Australia’s National Reserve System, covering more than 67 million hectares - that's an area nearly the size of the whole state of New South Wales.
Indigenous Protected Areas enable a strategic, coordinated, accountable plan for protecting nature at the same time as generating meaningful work in remote Indigenous communities and creating new economic opportunities like tourism. Opportunities for new Indigenous Protected Areas are coming up as land claims progress, awareness and capacity of local Indigenous organisations grows, and recognition of IPAs as realistic alternative economic options in many remote areas increases.