How First Nations Innovation is Shaping Australia’s Environmental Future
By Alexi Freeman
Article Summary
First Nations Peoples are combining Traditional Ecological Knowledge with tools like drones and AI to care for Country in smarter, culturally grounded ways.
From Indigenous drone pilot training to AI-driven species tracking, these programs are Indigenous-led, building local employment, data sovereignty, and environmental resilience.
Scalable tech fused with ancestral systems isn’t just effective - it’s a model for sustainability, sovereignty, and designing a regenerative future on Country's terms.
From fish traps to firesticks, First Nations Peoples have innovated in harmony with Country for at least 65,000 years.
Today, deep ancestral knowledge is augmented with state-of-the-art Western technology to care for Country in culturally grounded, scientifically advanced ways.
From machine learning tracking endangered species to drones managing fire regimes, fusing ancient wisdom with disruptive tech is driving smarter, more eco-sustainable practices.
And not just in research, industry collaborations are delivering fruitful outcomes and gainful employment, benefiting ecosystems and communities alike.
These projects are reshaping how Australia listens to, learns from and works with Indigenous knowledge systems – and just imagine where these systems could take us in the future?
Eyes in the Sky, Jobs on the Ground
For many Australians, drones still evoke a sense of sci-fi fantasy. On Country, they’re valuable scientific tools used by Indigenous rangers for efficiently and sensitively managing land and sea.
The Australian Government’s First Nations Drone Policy Design Project asked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders how drone policy can support environmental goals and ‘Closing the Gap’.
Their response didn’t beat around the bush: community-owned, culturally-led, and practical to implement.
Take the Minyerra Borrinyu (Buzz Wing) program on Yorta Yorta Woka, where Indigenous trainees earn drone pilot licences.
The result? More eyes in the sky, more jobs on the ground – and greater Indigenous-led capacity to care for Country.
In Arnhem Land, the Mimal-Warddeken Drone Uplift Program builds on the Digital Women Ranger program, using drones to monitor land health and manage controlled burns across vast, remote terrain.
Deployed in these ways, drones are disruptive tools of sovereignty, empowering Traditional Owners to assess, protect, and heal larger swathes of Country on their terms.
As Jaclyn Smith, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) policy and regulation manager at CASA, explains: “Rangers are using drones to survey land and sea to protect the area’s cultural sites and resources such as sea cucumbers, dugong, and turtles, and map seagrass, sand erosion, and shifting islands.”
Healthy Country AI: Culturally Coded Machine Learning
Technology is only as culturally sensitive as the humans shaping it, and when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, centring on indigenous knowledge makes all the difference.
*Healthy Country AI* – a CSIRO and First Nations collaboration – uses AI to survey species and habitats of cultural significance. Unlike many disconnected top-down solutions, this program is Indigenous-led from the ground up.
The tech is already impressive, including image recognition that identifies endangered animals, and satellite data that flags invasive weeds.
Deeper innovation lies in co-design with emerging technologies. Over the next five years, integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with ethical AI will further assist rangers in managing biodiversity hotspots, detecting threats and making data-informed decisions in real-time.
Researcher Julia Watson observes and advocates for TEK and says: “There’s an incredible diversity of ways of living with nature that are available for us to look at, understand, observe, perhaps to learn from and then even to replicate and adapt.”
Ultimately, the integration of TEK with Western technology must deliver benefits back to Indigenous communities, and that only happens when discussions are Traditional Owners-led.
Cultural Burning: Oldest Science, Newest Tools
Long before hazard-reduction burns were standard practice in colonial Australia, Indigenous peoples practised firestick farming – controlled, low-intensity burns that regenerated landscapes, protected species, and reduced wildfire risk.
Disruptive technology is helping this ancient science expand its reach.
- Satellite mapping identifies optimal burn areas.
- Weather software models safe burn windows.
- Drones monitor post-burn recovery.
Integrating these tools supercharges Indigenous-led fire programs, supporting the next generation of culturally aware and tech-savvy fire practitioners.
Initiatives like Everything is Country – a collaboration between the University of New England and regional Indigenous fire groups – are reviving cultural burning with data-enhanced monitoring.
Sometimes, the most compelling solutions are also the oldest, reinvented with a je ne sais quoi of modern tech.
Tracking Indigenous-Led TEK
Over the past five years, Indigenous communities have integrated Western technology with TEK.
Drones, GIS mapping, and remote sensors have supported cultural burning, tracked invasive species populations, monitored biodiversity and protected sacred sites.
Tech interventions have laid vital groundwork and tangible outcomes – from reduced wildfires and improved habitat management to greater data sovereignty and local employment.
Challenges also remain. Inconsistent funding, digital infrastructure gaps, and the need for ongoing commitments to training are limiting the reach of these innovative programs.
The next five years promise exponential productivity gains by integrating existing digital assets with the rise of AI, enabling vast datasets collected via incumbent assets to be interpreted in a fraction of the time, as demonstrated by a groundbreaking CSIRO study mapping critically endangered blue whales.
Merging Two Worlds-One Shared Future
Whether it’s drones, data, or AI, the future of environmental care isn’t merely engineered only in technology-filled labs – it is First Nations-led on Country.
Through sustained investment and collaboratively implemented scaling, “Australia can take a leadership role in the recognition, valuing and advancement of Indigenous Knowledge systems,” says Professor Barry Judd of the University of Melbourne.
The tools of the future rest in our collective hands, scaffolded by thousands of generations of Indigenous knowledge illuminating the path forward.
When ancient wisdom meets modern technology, we unlock more intelligent solutions, root ourselves more deeply in Country, regenerate landscapes, and protect endangered species.
Together, we can listen to the past while embracing the possibilities of the future, as if we care for Country, Country will care for us.