Keynes Airport is located in the northern part of Queensland, Australia, and is home to several endangered birds and plants, including small double eyed fig parrots, beach stone curls, and white wax plants. Its habitat is the stunning 300 hectares of mangrove forests at the location.

Protecting these species is one of the environmental goals of the airport management agency North Queensland Airport (NQA).

Richard Barker, CEO of NQA, stated that airport operators have received loans coordinated by the Federal Bank related to sustainable development to help embed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals into the company's operational and financial priorities. Barker acknowledges that long-term success requires investing in good environmental practices and outlines how the adoption of these goals can drive new initiatives.

We are doing some work in the construction activities here, and our goal is to increase the participation of indigenous people through direct employment and support within indigenous communities.

The truly unique part is that we hope to achieve some specific biodiversity goals, including protecting some endangered species on airport operating land.

Barker said that Indigenous peoples have played a crucial role in helping NQA advance its ESG goals. Dawul Wuru Original Corporation Yirganydji Land and Sea Ranger program is a local indigenous group that guides NQA's baseline biodiversity audit and helps identify species that need to be protected. Dawul Wuru Indigenous Company will also collaborate with businesses to support and cultivate the population.

Barker stated that a key advantage of sustainable development related loans is that they incentivize organizations to achieve sustainable development goals by rewarding success with lower financing costs. He said that this makes sustainable development plans more cost-effective, meaning that NQA can hire some indigenous land and marine rangers as well as other local groups.

He said, "The bank, together with us directly, not only protected an amazing piece of land and endangered species, but also created employment opportunities within indigenous communities.

This loan is Australia's first of its kind, in line with the goals of the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP 15) to be held in Montreal in December 2022. The focus of the meeting is to establish and adopt a global biodiversity framework to protect threatened flora and fauna, protect and recognize indigenous peoples as managers of the natural environment, and develop financial products to promote sustainable finance and investment.

Bl á thnaid Byrne, Director of Sustainable Finance and ESG at the Federal Bank, said that NQA's involvement of indigenous peoples in planning and delivering their set biodiversity goals illustrates the path forward for businesses seeking to collaborate with indigenous communities for biodiversity conservation, and showcases a more broad-based approach to indigenous participation.

With the focus on nature and biodiversity, people strongly recognize the value of Indigenous peoples as traditional caretakers and custodians of land, "added Bern.

Byrne pointed out that Australian companies are working hard to understand how to collaborate with Indigenous organizations, and more than 1100 organizations have collaborated with Australian reconciliation organizations to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), and more organizations are expected to follow suit.

Bourne said that a strong reconciliation action plan is tailored around the organization's business operations, ensuring that the company collaborates with indigenous people in a way that meets the organization's needs and capabilities.

For example, RAP may involve setting employment goals for indigenous peoples or utilizing indigenous knowledge and expertise to better manage the environment and biodiversity.

Bern said that in the NQA case, airport operators are seeking to improve the outcomes of indigenous peoples as part of their sustainable finance plan.

NQA is studying indigenous engagement through the planning and delivery of employee goals and basic engineering suppliers, as well as their set biodiversity goals, "said Bourne.

The company can obtain further support from the Gandaywarra: Indigenous Innovation Center at the Australian National University, which aims to establish partnerships and collaborations between Indigenous businesses and communities, academia, industry, government, and end-users.

Gandaywarra was founded by Michelle Jasper, who said the center will support innovation and collaboration, and activate a series of strong long-term partnerships and capabilities.

Gandaywarra is truly innovative in its desire to do things differently in ANU and the broader economic ecosystem by embedding traditional knowledge and practices into research translation, application, and commercialization, "Jasper said.