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  4. Indigenous land and forest data

Secondary Forests Australia

  • Forests Australia
    • Australia's forests
      • Forest profiles
        • Australia's forests-overview
        • Acacia forest
        • Callitris forest
        • Casuarina forest
        • Eucalypt forest
        • Mangrove forest
        • Melaleuca forest
        • Rainforest
        • Commercial plantations
    • Forest facts
    • Australia's State of the Forests Report
      • Synthesis 2023
      • Criterion 1: Conservation of biological diversity
        • 1.1a.i Forest area by type
          • 1.1a.i Supporting information
        • 1.1a.ii Forest area by tenure
          • 1.1a.ii Supporting information
        • 1.1a.iii Forest area in RFA regions
          • 1.1a.iii Supporting information
        • 1.1a.iv Forest area change over time
          • 1.1a.iv Supporting information
        • 1.1c: Area of forest protected for conservation
          • 1.1c: supporting information
        • 1.2a: Forest dwelling species
          • 1.2a: supporting information
        • 1.2b: Threatened forest dwelling species
          • 1.2b: supporting information
        • 1.3a: Species at risk from loss of genetic variation
          • 1.3a: supporting information
        • 1.3b: Genetic resource conservation
          • 1.3b: supporting information
      • Criterion 2: Productive capacity of forest ecosystems
        • 2.1a: Native forest available for wood production and the area harvested
        • 2.1b: Age class and growing stock of plantations
        • 2.1c: Annual removal of wood products compared to sustainable volumes
          • 2.1c.i Sustainable yield and harvest levels (2024)
          • 2.1c.ii Removals by log type (2024)
          • 2.1c.iii Forecast national log availability (2024)
        • 2.1e: Harvested area regenerated or re-established
      • Criterion 3: Ecosystem health and vitality
        • 3.1a: Forest health and vitality
          • 3.1a Supporting information
        • 3.1b: Area of forest burnt
          • 3.1b: supporting Information
      • Criterion 4: Soil and water resources
        • 4.1a: Area of forest managed for protective functions
      • Criterion 5: Forest contribution to global carbon cycles
        • 5.1a: Carbon in forests and forest products
      • Criterion 6: Socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of societies
        • 6.1a: Value and volume of wood and wood products
          • 6.1a: supporting information
        • 6.1d: Production, consumption, import/export of wood and non-wood products
        • 6.2b: Investment in research and development
          • 6.2b: supporting information
        • 6.4a: Indigenous forest estate
        • 6.5a: Direct and indirect employment
          • 6.5a: supporting information
        • 6.5b: Wage rates and injury rates
          • 6.5b: supporting information
        • 6.5c: Resilience of forest dependent communities
          • 6.5c: supporting information
        • 6.5d: Resilience of forest dependent Indigenous communities
          • 6.5d: supporting information
      • Criterion 7: Legal, institutional and economic framework for conservation and sustainable management
        • 7.1a: Legal framework
          • 7.1a: supporting information
        • 7.1b: Institutional framework
          • 7.1b: supporting information
        • 7.1e: Capacity to conduct and apply research and development
          • 7.1e supporting information
      • About Australia’s State of the Forests Report
      • Past reporting
        • Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018
          • Executive summary
            • Data
          • Criterion 1 Conservation of biological diversity
          • Criterion 2: Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems
          • Criterion 3: Maintenance of ecosystem health and vitality
          • Criterion 4: Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources
          • Criterion 5: Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles
          • Criterion 6: Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of societies
          • Criterion 7: Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management
          • Maps and other graphics
          • Data
        • Australia's State of the Forests Report 2013
        • Australia's State of the Forests Report 2008
        • Australia's State of the Forests Report 2003
        • Australia's State of the Forests Report 1998
      • Mandates and drivers for Australia's State of the Forests Report
      • Benefits of producing Australia's State of the Forests Reports
    • Criteria and Indicators for reporting
      • Alignment of Australia's indicators with Montreal Process indicators
      • Review
    • National Forest Inventory
      • National Forest Inventory Steering Committee
    • Forests, land and Australia’s Indigenous peoples
    • Forest and wood products statistics
    • Plantation inventory and statistics
    • Data, maps and tools
      • Data by topic
        • Area of forest
        • Fire in forests
        • Forest species and ecological communities
        • Indigenous land and forest
        • Native forests
        • Plantation forests
        • Regional Forest Agreements
        • Regional forestry profiles
        • Regional Forestry Hubs boundaries
        • Tenure of forests
        • Wood products statistics
      • Spatial data
        • Forests of Australia
        • Tenure of Australia's forests
        • Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate
        • Fires in Australia's forests
        • Regional Forestry Hubs boundaries
        • Australia's plantations
      • Data visualisations
        • Forestry regional profiles - data visualisation
        • Australia's native forest types - data visualisation
      • Maps
      • Tools
    • Publications
    • Forest agencies and organisations
    • Australia's forests and forestry glossary

Forests, land and Australia’s Indigenous peoples

Australia’s Indigenous peoples and communities, which comprise all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities, value forests for a range of cultural, social and economic reasons. Substantial areas of Australia’s land and forest estate also have recognised ownership, management, or special rights of access or use by Indigenous peoples and communities, and together make up the Indigenous estate. Information describing the connection of Indigenous peoples and communities to Australia’s land and forest is published in Australia’s State of the Forests Report. ABARES data on the Indigenous estate also feature in the Australia State of the Environment report.

National data and information on Australia's land and forest relevant to Indigenous peoples and communities is organised under the following themes:

ABARES maps and characterises Australia's land and forest estate in which Indigenous peoples and communities hold an interest, as follows:

  • The Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate: separate reporting of estate categories technical report presents the most recent method for determining and reporting Indigenous ownership, management and special rights of access and use to land and forest. This method creates the spatial dataset Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate (2020), and the results are also presented in Indicator 6.4a and Indicator 6.4c of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018. An updated dataset using this recent methodology will be available in 2022.
  • A static map of Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate (see image below), and an interactive version of Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate (2020) spatial dataset, are available.
  • The Land tenure of Australia 2010–11 to 2015–16, 250 m product represents spatially the mechanism that declares the legal relationship between people and land. This product includes land areas that have been granted to Indigenous peoples under Indigenous land grant instruments.
  • Data on Indigenous heritage areas are presented and discussed in Indicator 6.4a of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018.

The National Indigenous Forestry Strategy provides a framework for the forest and wood products industry to work with Indigenous communities to achieve multiple rural and regional economic benefits. The strategy encourages Indigenous participation in the industry by forming business partnerships to provide long-term benefits to Indigenous communities, and the industry.

A map of the Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management category.

Click here for a downloadable higher resolution version of the Indigenous estate map. 

The involvement of Indigenous peoples and communities in land and forest management is reported nationally in two indicators of Australia’s State of the Forests Report (Indicator 6.4c, The extent to which Indigenous values are protected, maintained and enhanced through Indigenous participation in forest management, and Indicator 6.1b, Values, quantities and use of non-wood forest products), and in the Indigenous chapter of Australia State of the Environment 2021 report.

Case studies in Indicator 6.4c of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018 include:

  • Safeguarding Aboriginal heritage in Western Australian forests (Case study 6.8)
  • West Kimberley National Heritage Place (Case study 6.9)
  • Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area (Case study 6.11)
  • Forestry Corporation of New South Wales engagement with the Aboriginal community (Case study 6.12)
  • Indigenous forestry (Case study 6.13)
  • Gumgali walking track (Case study 6.14)
  • Cultural burning (Case study 6.15)
  • Cultural heritage assessments (Case study 6.16).

Topics and case studies in Indicator 6.1b of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018:

  • Bushfoods and non-wood forest products
  • Commercial harvest of Kakadu plum (Case study 6.1).

Indigenous management of natural environments is also covered in the Indigenous chapter of the Australia State of the Environment 2021 report.

The participation and employment of Indigenous peoples and communities in the forest sector is reported nationally in Australia’s State of the Forests Report in Indicator 6.5d (Resilience of forest dependent Indigenous communities to changing social and economic conditions). Topics include employment, community adaptive capacity, and education and training, and a map of Indigenous Locations, by proportion of the Indigenous workforce employed in forest and wood products industries (see image below).

Indigenous forestry is covered in Case study 6.13 of Indicator 6.4c of Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018.

A map of Indigenous Locations, by proportion of the Indigenous workforce employed in forest and wood products industries.

Click here for a downloadable higher resolution version of the Indigenous Locations map.

A map of the Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management category, for Northern Australia (see image below) was published in Northern forestry and forest products situational analysis (April 2020), a report for the CRC for Developing Northern Australia. The report provides a high-level synopsis of the Northern Australian forestry and forest products industry and describes its challenges, potential solutions and opportunities for further policy development, research or investment. One of six recommendations for action in the report is to: Promote Indigenous forestry development through better engagement models and commercial arrangements between industry and indigenous landowners, and build indigenous forestry capacity and understanding of commercial forest resources including through forest resource inventory.

This map shows the distribution of the Indigenous forest estate, by land ownership and management category for northern Australia.

Click here for a downloadable higher resolution version of the map of the Indigenous estate for Northern Australia.

Definitions

Indigenous (of people)

Of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Indigenous estate (land or forest)

Land or forest over which Indigenous peoples and communities have ownership, management, or rights of use for customary purposes.

See Australia's forests and forestry glossary for more definitions.

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Page last updated: 10 January 2023

We acknowledge the continuous connection of First Nations Traditional Owners and Custodians to the lands, seas and waters of Australia. We recognise their care for and cultivation of Country. We pay respect to Elders past and present, and recognise their knowledge and contribution to the productivity, innovation and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.

Artwork: Protecting our Country, Growing our Future
© Amy Allerton, contemporary Aboriginal Artist of the Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gamilaroi nations.

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