First Nations peoples of Australia have cared for Country for millennia. Their knowledge, management and expertise are embedded within rich cultures and a deep connection to Sea Country. To protect our ocean, we must build stronger partnerships that embed traditional knowledge, science and practices into decision-making. This includes adopting new approaches—led by First Nations peoples—in ocean and coastal decisions.
AMCS works collaboratively with First Nations peoples, and together we have achieved powerful conservation outcomes. From fighting to stop coal mining and coal port impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, to working alongside First Nations leaders of the Nyinggulu/Ningaloo region to secure a government commitment to create a marine park on important Sea Country in Exmouth Gulf.
Together, we have run joint rescue missions to save critically endangered sawfish from drying billabongs and helped establish Traditional Owner–led marine parks in the Northern Territory. We are also elevating the leadership of those on the front line of plastic pollution, enabling Indigenous Rangers protecting Sea Country to have their voices heard at Global Plastic Treaty negotiations.
We connect Traditional Owners directly with political decision-makers, ensuring their leadership and lived experience shape policy. We join Traditional Owners on national and global stages and partner to protect Country from destructive threats such as seabed mining, gillnet fishing, plastic pollution and ghost nets.
But we recognise there is still much more to do.
At AMCS, our journey to reflect, plan and act on our support for Traditional Owners’ management of Sea Country includes the development of our internal Side by Side Plan and our first external Reconciliation Action Plan. These set out commitments to collaboration at the heart of our work to protect the marine environment.
Your support will fund knowledge-sharing, partnerships and direct action. This includes scientific expertise and advocacy, travel between distant locations, sharing stories of ocean threats, and supporting delegations to attend national and international meetings.
Join us where traditional and western knowledge converge to safeguard Sea Country.
If you are interested in funding this work, explore these special projects below:
All donations over $2 are 100% tax-deductible. The projects featured in the Funding Prospectus are priority campaign activities and needs for which we are urgently seeking funds – current at the time of posting or going to press. As time progresses, there may be some cases in which the project you have selected may already be fully funded. In that instance, we would be delighted to discuss where the need is greatest at the given time. All of our campaigns work in symbiotic support of our mission to protect our oceans. Please be assured your gift will go to work to be the voice for Australia’s oceans, working on the big issues that risk our ocean wildlife.
