The Ten Deserts Initiative was a collaboration of conservation groups, indigenous land managers and Natural Resource Management organisations to support on-ground biodiversity conservation and land management outcomes in the arid lands of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Ten Deserts are:
- Sturt Stony Desert (SA, QLD, NSW)
- Strzelecki Desert (SA, QLD, NSW)
- Perdirka Desert (SA)
- Tirari Desert (SA)
- Great Sandy Desert (WA, NT)
- Simpson Desert (SA, NT, QLD, NSW)
- Gibson Desert (WA)
- Little Sandy Desert (WA)
- Tanami Desert (NT, WA)
- Great Victoria Desert (SA,WA)
- and includes the arid/semi-arid lands of NT, WA & SA.
The purpose of the Ten Deserts initiative was to:
- Promote integrated cross-border/tenure approaches to critical ecological threats
- Increase the impact of cross-border collaboration
- Increase the profile of the value of Australia’s desert country and the challenges of solving complex issues in remote regions
- Connect disparate and remote partners to attract and make better use of available resources
- Attract additional resources into Central Australia
The Arid Lands Environment Centre coordinated the Ten Deserts Initiative and facilitated quarterly working groups and annual face-to-face meetings. This role was funded through Rangelands WA, Dept Environment Water and Natural Resources (SA), Pew Charitable Trusts and the Nature Conservancy.
The Ten Deserts Working Group included:
- Department of Land Resource Management (NT)
- Great Victoria Desert Biodiversity Trust
- Greening Australia
- Kanyirnipa Jukurrpa
- Land for Wildlife Central Australia
- Natural Resources – Alinytjara Wilurara
- Ngaanyatjarra Council
- Rangelands NRM (WA)
- Territory NRM
- The Nature Conservancy
- The Pew Charitable Trusts
Ten Deserts Partner organisations were:
- Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
- Arid Recovery
- Central Desert Native Title Services
- Central Land Council
- NRM SA Arid Lands
The two key collaborative projects for the Ten Deserts initiative were:
- Buffel Free GVD (Great Victoria Desert)
- Desert Fire
The Ten Deserts Initiative has now been wound up, go to www.tendeserts.org for information on a new and exciting collaboration across the Ten Deserts.