Australia's deserts cover most of the continent, and for tens of thousands of years they have been cared for by the people who belong to them. Today that care has a network behind it in the Indigenous Desert Alliance, which brings together twenty nine member organisations, more than ninety five per cent of the Indigenous desert land management sector, and supports about seventy ranger teams across 270 million hectares. It has trained 885 rangers, and over four years the teams have managed and restored 145 million hectares. Cultural authority stays where it belongs, with desert people deciding what happens on their Country, while the alliance helps with training, coordination and research. Its biggest programme is Right Way Desert Fire: burns timed through the year from the ground and the air, laying down a patchwork of young and old country that gives animals fresh food and shelter and leaves less fuel for a big summer fire. Rangers are also writing the first Indigenous led recovery plan for the great desert skink, one of seventy eight threatened species in the desert.
In September the alliance was named one of fifteen finalists for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, in the Protect and Restore Nature category, chosen from nearly seven thousand nominations across 169 countries. Five winners will each receive a million pounds at the awards night in Mumbai on 17 November. "Deserts thrive best when Indigenous people are leading," says the alliance's chief executive, Samantha Murray. Its goal for 2030 is ranger groups caring for thirty per cent of Australia's land, and whatever happens in Mumbai, that is already a story worth telling: a third of a continent, looked after the right way, by the people who know it best.
Sources and links
An Earth to Sea News story. Figures from the Earthshot Prize finalist profile and announcement (18 September 2026). Photographs: as credited in captions.
- The Earthshot Prize, Indigenous Desert Alliance Every figure, Right Way Desert Fire, the skink plan, Samantha Murray's words.
- The Earthshot Prize, 2026 finalists Fifteen finalists, nominations, Mumbai awards night.
- Indigenous Desert Alliance The alliance (confirm address at build).
