First Nations people key to blue carbon projects: study

Sarah Parriman says Indigenous people are locked out of the carbon market in coastal ecosystems. (HANDOUT/INDIGENOUS CARBON INDUSTRY NETWORK)

First Nations people have been caring for sea country for millennia, and hold the key for Australia's "blue carbon" market to realise its full potential, a study has found.

Research from the country's peak Indigenous carbon organisation found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hold rights over 66 per cent of Australia's coastline, but are being locked out of schemes to own and sell carbon in coastal ecosystems.