An indigenous land use agreement is an agreement between a native title group and others about the use and management of land and waters.
These agreements allow people to negotiate flexible, pragmatic agreements to suit their particular circumstances.
An indigenous land use agreement can be negotiated over areas where native title has, or has not yet, been determined to exist. They can be part of a native title determination, or settled separately from a native title claim.
Indigenous land use agreements can be formed on the following topics:
- native title holders agreeing to a future development
- how native title rights coexist with the rights of other people
- access to an area
- extinguishment of native title
- compensation.
When registered with the Tribunal, indigenous land use agreements bind all parties and all native title holders to the terms of the agreement.
Indigenous land use agreements were introduced as a result of amendments to the Native Title Act in 1998. As of August 2008, the Tribunal had registered more than 340 indigenous land use agreements nationally.