For the first time, a measure of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' connection to Country has been included as a key indicator of the impacts of climate change on health in the 2026 Oceania Report of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)-Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
Researchers from Yardhura Walani, the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Research at The Australian National University (ANU), analysed community-controlled data to track time spent on Country.
Connection to Country is central to wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Among various factors that threaten connection to Country, and undermine health and wellbeing, is climate change.
The 2026 Oceania Report tracks progress across 28 indicators, bringing together 41 experts from 18 institutions. ANU researchers Professor Ray Lovett, Dr Bronwyn Wilkes and Dr Chris McKay are among its authors.
The Yardhura Walani team analysed data from the Mayi Kuwayu Study, an Indigenous-led and-governed longitudinal study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing, which is helping to shape a detailed understanding of the relationship between culture and wellbeing.
The cultural measures in the Mayi Kuwayu questionnaire were developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
So far over 13,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 16 years and over have participated in the Mayi Kuwayu Study, with their contributions now being used in a nationally significant report on climate and health.
Research Fellow Dr Wilkes, a proud Gundungurra woman, said the inclusion of a specific indicator for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was an important step forward for the MJA-Lancet Countdown.
"This marks the first time Indigenous-governed data have been included in the Oceania report,” Dr Wilkes said.
"While the new indicator tracks only one aspect of how climate change may impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples holistically, spending time on Country provides a range of important benefits for health and wellbeing –physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and culturally."
Data collected between 2021 and 2025 show that almost 60 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults spent time on Country in this period, with peoples living in remote areas more likely to spend ‘a lot’ of time on Country, compared to major cities and regional areas.
"The findings also show that an estimated 14.3 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults want to spend time on Country but can’t, which suggests that considerable health and wellbeing gains could be achieved through programs that support access to Country,” Dr Wilkes said.
Protecting against the harms of climate change requires the collection and analysis of high-quality data that reflects the whole population and informs locally and culturally relevant responses to health impacts and emerging threats.
The inclusion of the time on Country indicator in this year’s report follows the call for Indigenous-specific indicators made in the 2023 edition, of which Professor Lovett was a co-author.
Future editions will enable changes in time spent on Country to be tracked over time.
Established in 2017, the MJA–Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change in Oceania produced its first regional assessment in 2018, with subsequent annual updates from 2019.
The analysis examines five broad domains: 1) health hazards, exposures, and impacts; 2) adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; 3) mitigation actions and health co-benefits; 4) economics and finance; and 5) public and political engagement.
The 2026 edition is the eighth report and examines climate change and health across five domains: health hazards, exposures and impacts, adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement.
The study is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
