The Regional Indigenous Land and Sea Strategy (RILSS) for the South-West Australia region represents an additional, more focused layer to the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) Group’s strategic direction as laid out in the National Indigenous Land and Sea Strategy (NILSS) for the period 2019 to 2022. These are the first national and regional land and sea strategies that include water-based activities, following from legislative changes to the ILSC and its role.

Key Findings:

• The South-West Australia region has an Indigenous population of approximately 55,000. Most of the Indigenous population within this region live in and around the Greater Perth area, with the city of Perth having a population of around 32,000. The relative percentage of Aboriginal people in the region’s population varies, with greater proportions in more arid parts.
• The South-West Australia region has been impacted variously by urbanisation, agricultural use, and mining, as well as altered fire regimes.
• The major threats facing this region are land clearing and fragmentation, vegetation dieback due to the fungus Phytophthora and climate change.
• All forms of agriculture are practised in the South-West Australia Region from rangeland pastoralism, through to cropping to intensive horticulture. The ILSC is looking to assist Indigenous land holders to increase their presence in agribusiness, including diversification of traditional cropping and grazing land uses.