A quarter of Australia, or more than 190 million hectares of land is now safeguarded under an Indigenous Protected Area. But unlike a national park or marine reserve, IPAs are voluntarily declared and run by First Nations people. In the Torres Strait Islands this new approach is helping combat the effects of sea level rise by giving community a role in how they adapt to climate change. SBS travelled to Masig [[Ma-sig]] Island off Queensland's northern tip where key sites are already being lost to rising sea levels.
Yessie Mosby is walking along the southern side of Masig Island.
He knows these shores better than anyone.
A wongai tree marks his generations-long connection to the spot.
"So this wongai here called Yessie, this wongai is named after me. It has fruit. My kids come and play on this tree and eat the fruit of this tree."
Not all are fond memories, the Traditional Owner remembers the day his son found the washed-up remains of his great-great grandmother.
"They were picking up her bones like shells off the beach. That's when it hit me. I have to try and do something to save this place. It affects you mentally, it affects you spiritually, you are connected to this lady, my children are connected to this lady. It gets on your nerves because you cannot do anyhting, it makes you boil in your heart. So the only thing I could do was being a voice and getting that message out there to the rest of the world that hey, something is not rigth here, no people should be walking on the beach with their children to pick up someone they are biologically connected to."
Mosby was among eight Torres Strait Islanders who won a landmark UN human rights ruling against the Australian government over climate change inaction.
In response, the federal and Queensland governments invested in thousands of sandbags, which wrap around Masig's eastern side to form a seawall.
Masig Island lies less than three metres above sea level with rising water levels still eating away at its shores.
Yessie explains the change with a stick in the sand... around 20 metres from the edge of the island.
"So from where I'm standing to where the land is now, this is 43 years."
The lap of the ocean is a constant reminder too... of the risks of a beachfront business.
Kimiko Mosby is the co-owner of Migi Yarn Cafe.
"We had the high tides, we had the winds and we had rain so they were the three things when the high tide came, the wind and the rain. It was just bang, bang, bang. It took a few metres."
A sea wall now also protects Kimiko and her partners prized investment after that 2018 weather event.
[[UPSOT - WAVES]]
Many of the 300 residents who live here have a story about climate change.
Peter Paul Lowatta has lived on Masig for over 50 years.
"The island when we go around it used to be way out there, like used to be big but at the moment has become small so when them green turtle, they can't do the nesting no more. They have to go further in the bush."
Evidence provided to the federal court over the Commonwealth's climate responsibility to Torres Strait Islanders predicts low-lying islands, such as Masig, may become uninhabitable by 2050.
Custodians hope to take back control through the establishment of an Indigenous Protected Area, enacted in 2025.
Here's Kimiko Mosby again.
"It was really good, casue the consuktation process nutted it out exactly, what we wanted, our input, what our aspirations were, how we saw it and how we wanted to manage it and of course how we would now that's here. It's funny, because we know Masig and the surrounding islands belong to us".
The Masigilgal Indigenous Protected Area covers 11 coral cays and islands around the community and is run by a small group of rangers from the Torres Strait Regional Island Authority.
[[USPOT - palms in the wind]]
On the eastern end of Masig... picturesque palm trees serve another purpose
The coconut palms are fighting erosion.
Laura Pearson is a senior ranger with the Torres Strait Regional Island authoirty.
"At the moment we can see that there is coconut, we call it uru, and it's a really culturally significant plant for us Torres Strait people, that provides shelter, slows down the coastal erosion effects, and it also provides us with water and cooking resources as well."
At the ranger's nursery, rows of green saplings will boost habitats.
Revegetation a small part of the puzzle, while rangers must tackle marine debris, ghost nets, invasive weeds and feral animals like pigs.
"It's never ending, but it's the best job in the world."
Rangers such as Fred David help document vital cultural data.
"Biodiversity survery, flora and fauna surveys, weed surveys, beach patrols and turtle monitoring."
Back at Yessie Mosby's camp, rangers have supplied logs from densely packed coconut fibres.
"Coconut, natural fibre. It is working! I recon if this wasn't here this tree would've been washed out."
Yet, he says it's like paddling upstream.
"Masig has a nickname within the Torres Strait they call this island the teardrop of the Straits, when you leave this island you always shed a tear."
The shape of an island and its culture... forever changing.
That story by Josh van Staden [[vahn STAH-duhn]] and Frankie Adkins for SBS News received support from the Pulitzer Center's Ocean Reporting Network.
