For Traditional Owners in that part of the north
that can be called the wet/dry tropics there are many common
issues, problems and circumstances which include:
- The links between families/clans/language groups and
specific areas of land are still strong in the minds of older
people and some younger people but shifts to towns, missions and
settlements make it harder to maintain those links by being on and
managing country;
- In many areas, the wisdom of the old people is being lost at
varying levels;
- Much Indigenous land has not suffered excessive damage from
development but there is increasing pressure for development;
- Problems like changes in fire regimes, spread of weeds and
damage from feral animals threaten the health of people and of
country;
- Indigenous land and sea owners and managers need a wide range
of resources to deal with these problems using both western science
tools and Indigenous knowledge tools;
- There are large areas of Indigenous owned lands and many
species of plants and animals that are shared across state
boundaries and right across the wet/dry tropics;
- Indigenous land and sea owners across the north require a
strong voice to get help to care for country
In 2000, the Kimberley Land Council,
Northern Land Council and Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation
agreed to become core partners of the Cooperative Research Centre
for Tropical Savannas Management (TS–CRC) for the period from
2001–2002 to 2007–2008. Importantly, these groups also
agreed to investigate forming an alliance of Indigenous land
councils and land management agencies across north Australia to
work on getting better land and sea management results for
Indigenous people.
In early 2003, Joe Morrison began as the Executive Officer of
NAILSMA, and is located within the CRC headquarters, based at the
Charles Darwin University in Darwin. Since this time, the alliance
has grown to operate several projects across the north.
The membership of the alliance is growing to
include other relevant Indigenous organisations that are interested
in caring for country.
