The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network has been awarded 1 million pounds (AU$1.8 million) in the Prince of Wales’ Earthshot Prize, for their groundbreaking work protecting the Great Barrier Reef.
The First Nations, women-led network combines 60,000 years of Indigenous knowledge with new technology such as drones to gather data on the Great Barrier Reef. Rangers then use this data to educate people about coral bleaching and dieback and work with the government and reef organisations to implement coral sanctuaries and regrowth projects.
They received the prize over the weekend in Boston, and were selected from more than 1000 nominations in the initiative aimed at uncovering and scaling solutions that will help save the planet. The Queensland program won the Earthshot Prize’s “Revive Our Oceans” category.
Managing director of the Queensland Indigenous Womens Ranger Network, Larissa Hale told the ABC that winning the Earthshot Prize “means we can grow the number of Indigenous women rangers, plus have 200 girls in an education program, inspiring the next generation of Indigenous rangers.”
Beyond growing the network in Australia, Hale adds that the program’s ambition is to reach “a network of countries around the world to build a global collective helping to repair the planet” through “First Nations female-led conservation programs.”
On their award decision, the Earthshot Prize said the network’s data gives “critical insight into one of the most important ecosystems on the planet. As custodians of the land, the rangers have also protected sites of great cultural and spiritual significance.”
“With greater support, Indigenous women rangers could span the planet, helping to repair ecosystems from Hawaii to Nepal and Tanzania.”
The Queensland Indigenous Women’s Ranger Network was established in 2018 as a way for female rangers to share their experiences and knowledge.
Hale said the network came together because there weren’t enough Indigenous women in land and sea management, so the network wanted to get across that conservation work isn’t “just for men, it is for all of us.”
In Queensland, only 20 per cent of Indigenous rangers are women, but the program has trained over 60 women by sharing conservation knowledge and telling stories. Members of the network have gone on to find work as rangers in Queensland or in conservation elsewhere.
In its second year, Prince William said his inspiration to create the Earthshot Prize came from former US president John F Kennedy’s moonshot speech in 1962.
Moonshot mobilised the US to put a man on the moon and now Earthshot wants to solve the earth’s environmental challenges with the same sense of “hope, optimism and urgency.”
“In the same way the space effort six decades ago created jobs, boosted economies and provided hope, so too can the solutions borne of tonight’s Earthshot Prize winners,” Prince William said.
The award winners were announced at a ceremony at the MGM Music Hall in the US city of Boston.
Ambassador to Australia and the late president Kennedy’s daughter Caroline Kennedy was also in attendance at the Earthshot Prize and said she was especially excited for Hale’s work with the Queensland Indigenous Women’s Rangers Network to be recognised.
In a statement regarding the win, Hale said: “This place has always been our home, but today we risk losing it and the unique culture that has existed here for millennia. Our Women Rangers Network exists to protect our home and continue our traditions.”
“We have made big first steps, but we have a long way still to go. Thank you to the Earthshot Prize for supporting us.”