Australia Declares Largest Indigenous Protected Area

The World
The World

We’re looking for a vast desert where Australia has declared its largest indigenous protected area.

The conservation zone covers 25 million acres – an area about the size of Kentucky.

The desert wildlife include many endangered species like the Bilby, a small marsupial, and the great desert skink, a desert lizard.

Until recently this desert was largely unmapped, though its been home to Warlpiri aboriginal people for thousands of years. Some call it the final frontier in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Australia’s Tanami Desert is the answer to our Geo Quiz.

25 million acres of this sprawling desert in the Northern Territory has been designated a protected area. That makes it the largest indigenous conservation zone on the Australian continent.

Peter Taylor, who directs the Australian branch of the Nature Conservancy, explains what the historic conservation agreement means.

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