The Biodiversity Conference 2023 - Listen To Country has seen an extraordinary 650 attendees registered to attend this major scientific event.

The three-day conference at the University of Western Australia, Perth, brings together leading Indigenous land and sea care experts to share their wisdom, knowledge and experience with professionals and advocates from across the science and conservation sectors.

Nick Abraham delivered a Welcome to Country which took the packed Octagon Theatre on a journey across time and the south west of Western Australia.

Mr Abraham spoke of the systems that operated on Noongar country for tens of thousands of years, keeping the land, rivers and people healthy.

He discussed the disruption to these proven systems by colonisation.

"Despite these disruptions, our spirits are here... our stories are here... the Noongar people are here," he said.

Indigenous academic Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, renowned for his work in the Kimberley region, chaired the first plenary in which Professor Anne Poelina, a Nyikina Warrwa woman from the Kimberley region, spoke on the significance of the Martuwarra - Fitzroy River and the importance of listening to Country.

"Our very existence is dependent on Country being well," she said.

"Country is a very powerful indication of how we are doing as human beings, and the last bastions of biodiversity are being held and cared for by indigenous peoples."

She spoke on the formation and the important work of the Martuwarra River Keepers, a group of Traditional Owners to work to protect the river's health.

Professor Poelina warned that the impact of climate change on rainfall was pushing the system into "chaos".

"If we want to get to the 2023 biodiversity targets we need to change things," she said.

The second plenary saw Michael Wear, Mulgana Traditional Owner and head of sea cucumber business Tidal Moon, speak on the opportunities to employ and upskill Indigenous people through the oldest known export industry in Australian history, and the vital sea grass restoration and preservation work in which Tidal Moon is involved.

Then Karajarri Rangers Karina Chilcott, Sharee Dolby, Vanessa Kitty, Hayley Mulardy and Courtney Brown of the Bidyadanga Community spoke on their use of cultural knowledge, including right-way burning, to guide contemporary land management practices from Pirra to Jurarr.

Day One of the conference also saw Les Schultz of the Ngadju Conservation Aboriginal Corporation speak on the union of 21st century technology - the Multi-Platform LIDAR system - and cultural knowledge guiding Ngadju Fire management and conservation in the Great Western Woodlands.

He noted that the woodlands had suffered severe fires in 2019/2020 and were the largest arid temperate woodland on Earth.

Some 16 per cent of the woodlands mature trees have been lost over the past five decades, and 38 per cent in total lost in the same period.

Mr Schultz observed that the obligate seeders that some 500 years to reach full size.

"We would like to see more yellow (on the map, signifying mature trees) and we can do that with the right support, with the government waking up to realise there is a south-east Western Australia," he said.

There were dozens more remarkable speakers on the first day of the conference, each bringing a unique and intimate knowledge of Country to the large audience.

The Biodiversity Conference 2023: Listen To Country, will continue until late on Thursday, 12 October. It is hosted by Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute, the University of Western Australia, WA's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Curtin University, Notre Dame University, Edith Cowan University, The Western Australian Biodiversity Institute, the Western Australian Marine Science Institution, and Business Events Perth.

The major sponsors of the Conference are the BHP Foundation and BHP, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, FMG Fortescue, Rio Tinto and Chevron.