Indigenous Protected Areas appear to have been thrown a lifeline in the federal budget, with a five-year extension of funding.
Funding for IPAs was due to end in the middle of next year, and there have been nationwide campaigns for a commitment to renew the agreement and expand it along with the associated Indigenous ranger program.
IPAs are funded under the National Landcare Programme, but responsibilities for it cross into the departments of Indigenous affairs, environment and energy, and agriculture.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, a spokesman for the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, confirmed that a $1.1bn commitment to Landcare “secures the IPA programme for another five years from 2018-19”.
“This builds on the government’s current investment of $74m over five years to 2018.”
It was not made clear if the secured funding from 2018-19 would remain at $74m.
The budget paper made almost no reference to IPAs, or the ranger program – which Scullion has previously said would have a two-year extension of funding to 2020.
It said the government had extended the National Landcare Programme and the department was working with other agencies to “deliver long-term improvements to Australia’s biodiversity and natural resource condition and expand the Indigenous Protected Areas program”.
“If that’s the case, and we’d like confirmation, then it’s a fantastic commitment,” the Pew Charitable Trust’s Patrick O’Leary said.
“It backs up and secures almost half of Australia’s protected area network nationally, and that’s a world-leading partnership that we know other countries like Canada are looking at,” he said.
“We know the model is strongly supported by traditional owners on the ground because it gives them a great deal of agency in setting up the governance and management of their own country.”
O’Leary said a five-year commitment was “the kind of certainty people are looking for, if it can be confirmed”.
In his budget reply speech, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, renewed Labor’s pledge to double the number of Indigenous rangers.
“I’ve seen the pride that comes from wearing the ranger uniform, people working for this country on their country and their waters,” he said.
“Combining the latest environmental science with traditional knowledge, these rangers benefit the environment, tourism, and develop new enterprises.”
A cost-benefit analysis of the social returns of five IPAs last year found IPAs and ranger programs were “effectively overcoming barriers to addressing Indigenous disadvantage and engaging Indigenous Australians on country in meaningful employment to achieve large-scale conservation outcomes”.
Between 2009 and 2015, the IPAs that were studied showed an investment of $35.2m from the government and third parties generating $96.5m worth of social, economic, cultural and environmental outcomes.
