Eleven grants amounting to nearly $585,000 were awarded to NSW Aboriginal community organisations and groups as part of NSW's Protecting Our Places funding program for 2019.
Awarded by the NSW Government's Environmental Trust, these grants empower Aboriginal organisations and corporations to conserve culturally significant environmental landscapes, the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment's (DPIE), Environment, Energy and Science Group's Director of Grants Tina Bidese said.
"These grants support Aboriginal community groups and organisations to develop their cultural land management practices," Ms Bidese said.
"Key people in organisations receiving grants will receive project management and Aboriginal leadership training, mentoring and support at the start of the project.
"Part of the Environmental Trust's aim is to increase the amount of culturally significant Aboriginal land protected, restored and managed by local Aboriginal groups, land managers and stakeholders."
Individual grants of up to $60,000 may be implemented over three years.
The grants build the capacity of communities to deliver environmental improvements and knowledge-sharing activities around landscapes of cultural significance to the local community.
Now in its 16th year, the NSW Government's Environmental Trust's Protecting Our Places grants program began in 2002 and provides a mechanism to deliver Government policy, priorities and outcomes.
Altogether 23 applications were received for the Protecting our Places program this year, with 11 projects selected in early November.
