First Bali now Copenhagen - from
Joe
During December, I will be in Copenhagen with three other NAILSMA
delegates to continue to highlight the issues Indigenous people
face in north Australia, as well as share some of the unique
adaptation and mitigation measures being created by northern
Indigenous people. Our efforts there will build on the work we did
at the COP 13 Climate Change Conference in Bali during 2007.
As you know, NAILSMA’s broad aim is to improve Indigenous
livelihoods using Indigenous land and sea management skills and
knowledge.
In Copenhagen we will be furthering that aim by promoting the
commercial potential of Indigenous fire management as a way to
reduce green house gas emissions, and to continue to lobby for its
inclusion in an Emissions Trading Scheme in Australia.
Copenhagen will attract lots of non-government organisations, lobby
groups, investors, philanthropic organisations, and environmental
and Indigenous groups, so we will also have the opportunity to:
o network with other Indigenous groups about carbon markets,
Indigenous rights and related issues;
o promote Indigenous knowledge and land management values,
particularly relating to management of northern Australia;
o seek investment and other support for practical initiatives in
the north;and
o promote the effectiveness and value of quality collaboration of
western science and Indigenous knowledge in Indigenous owned land
management enterprise.
Click here
to view media release, and to download the new Carbon Program
booklet.
I’ll let you now how we go in the next e-news.
Until then, enjoy the articles below that will update you on most
of the NAILSMA programs. As always, I am encouraged by the
commitment and innovation demonstrated by Indigenous land and sea
managers, and I am glad to be part of ‘looking after our
country our way’.
Photo: One of the postcards we will distribute in
Copenhagen, along with posters and publications.
Joe
Morrison, CEO, NAILSMA
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Fire and emissions abatement
NAILSMA’s Carbon Project has been focussed on fire and
emissions abatement in four regions across the tropical savannas
– the Kimberley, central Arnhem Land, the Gulf and western
Cape York.
The science program has returned positive results for savanna
burning to be included as an accountable activity under the
proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Early dry season
patchwork burning reduces the total amount of country burnt each
year, and field experiments have shown that early dry season burns
do not produce greater concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide
than late dry season burns. This improves the outlook for investors
and potentially for future trade by Indigenous land managers in an
emissions market place.
NAILSMA has been pro-active in discussions with potential investors
in the State, energy, finance and philanthropic sectors and has
received considerable interest. A significant part of this interest
has been for social, cultural and biodiversity benefits created
from customary land management practices by Indigenous land owners.
These benefits are central to the livelihood goals of Indigenous
land owners and managers, and through NAILSMA’s social
program with partner organisations we aim to help local groups
develop ways of measuring, monitoring and improving these benefits
as part of the fire and emissions abatement projects.
This and other work with people on country (for instance on
governance arrangements) will begin in earnest in 2010, following
enthusiastic responses from some preliminary country visits this
year.
Glen
James, Social Programs Officer, Carbon
Program
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Water Facilitator team complete
Water Facilitators are now employed in six key catchment areas
across north Australia:
the Fitzroy and Ord (WA), the Daly (NT), the Gregory, Wenlock and
Mitchell (Qld).
They are working with NAILSMA and its partner organisations to:
- develop water networks
- facilitate the integration of Indigenous interests with other
stakeholders’ interests.
- advance Indigenous engagement in research and management.
- act as vehicles so that community interests are articulated at
the policy level.
Water Facilitators are developing strategic relationships in their
regions, for example through Indigenous catchment reference groups,
priority projects and community engagement activities.
Click here
to find out more about the Water Facilitators and where they
work.
For more information contact: Hugh Wallace
Smith, Coordinator, Indigenous Community Water Facilitator
Network
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Dugongs and turtles in the
classroom
A new Teacher Resource is available. It provides a wealth of
scientific and ecological informtion about dogong and marine turle
framed within the Torres Strait context.
The 64 page resource was written and compiled by the Torres Strait
Regional Authority Land and Sea Management Unit, in
consultation with Torres Strait Traditional Owners, and published
by NAILSMA.
It includes links to the community-based turtle and dugong
management programs run by Indigenous land and sea managers as part
of the NAILSMA Dugong and Marine Turtle Project. An accompanying
CD-ROM adds richness to the package by including multimedia,
student activities and worksheets, booklets and posters.
Teachers outside of the Torres Strait will also find this Resource
useful as a tool to inspire learning about dugong and marine turtle
and apects of Torres Strait Islander culture.
Click here
to order a printed copy or download a PDF of Dugong and Marine
Turtle: Teaching Resource and Information Package.
Josh
Kitchens, Communications and Project Support Officer,
Dugong and Marine Turtle Project
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New Indigenous teaching
materials
Elders and Traditional Owners from Jilkminggan community have
produced books and posters to teach Indigenous Ecological Knowledge
(IEK) to Aboriginal students at Jilkminggan and Mataranka
Schools.
The project funding came through NAILSMA’s ‘Talking
Culture on Country’ IEK grants. NAILSMA acknowledges the
support fof the Natural Resource Management Board of the NT, and
the Commonwealth Government.
Shelia Yenybarrak Conway and Jessie Garalnganjak Roberts are the
last two fluent speakers of Mangarrayi. They worked with a group of
other knowledge holders from the Jilkminggan community, the Parks
and Wildlife Service and the local school to make these teaching
materials to teach Mangarrayi and Yangman students about their
local plant and animal knowledge in local languages.
Click here
for more information about this project and NAILSMA'S Indigenous
Knowledge Strategy.
David
Wise, Program Officer IEK
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IPWG - what we do / what we did in
2009
The Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG) advocates for:
- legal recognition of Indigenous peoples inherent rights as
traditional owners;
- the right for Indigenous people to negotiate and engage in all
water planning and management decisions; and
- Indigenous water allocations for commercial and cultural
purposes.
Members of the Indigenous Water Policy Group have been advocating
on many fronts this year; they:
- spoke up at the World Water Forum in Turkey (Photo: Joe Ross,
Chair IWPG)
- took a north Australian Indigenous voice to the National
Indigenous Water Planners Forum in Adelaide; and
- participated in theTropical Rivers Forum in Darwin, the Native
Title Conference in Melbourne, the North Australian Indigenous
Experts Water Futures Forum at Mary River; and the International
Rivers Symposium in Brisbane.
‘Indigenous people cannot be on the margins of
discussions about development in the north, but drivers of
such.’ This is the clear and united north
Australian Indigenous message taken to all these forums.
It reflects the Garma International Indigenous Water Declaration
(August 2008), and more recently, the Mary River Statement (August
2009).
Click here
for more information about the World Water Forum and Garma
Declaration.
Click here
to download the paper presented at the International
Riversymposium.
Click here
to find out more about the Indigenous Water Policy Group.
Lorrae
McArthur, Coordinator, Indigenous Water Policy Group
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Indigenous people talk Water
Reform
A forum convened by NAILSMA in August provided an opportunity for
north Australian Indigenous people to raise ideas and
concerns about:
- economic development and opportunities;
- the potential impacts of developments in north Australia;
and
- governance and institutional arrangements that affect
Indigenous community interests, aspirations and issues.
The North Australian Indigenous Experts Water Futures Forum was
funded by the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce. The
Forum consulted Indigenous people about their:
- social and cultural connections to water resources;
- economic development aspirations that rely on access to and
development of locally or regionally significant water
resources;
- views on current or proposed water resource management and
governance arrangements (positive and negative impacts); and
- ability to pursue their economic development aspirations.
The delegates of the Forum gave a clear mandate to their elected
Interim Working Group to advocate for Indigenous water rights, as
outlined in the Mary River Statement.
Click here
to download the Mary River Statement.
Click here to
download the Forum Report, now part of the NAILSMA Knowledge
Series.
Click here
for more information about the Forum and to download media
releases.
Kalem
Ronberg, Project Support Officer, Indigenous Water Resource
Management Program
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Water Policy Group grows
The tenth meeting of the Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG) in
Darwin in October was particularly meaningful because it was
attended by members of the Interim Working Group elected at
NAILSMA’s North Australian Indigenous Experts Water Futures
Forum in August.
An important outcome of the IWPG meeting was that these two groups
have now joined forces.
Their united purpose is to advance dialogue and drive future
direction for Indigenous engagement in water reform, given the
federal government’s increasing interest in land and water
management and development in the north.
The newly expanded IWPG adopted the principles of the Mary River
Statement and will, through NAILSMA's partners, use the principles
to influence legislative and policy change and institutional change
in support of north Australian Indigenous communities’
interests.
Click here
for more information about the Indigenous Water Policy Group.
Lorrae
McArthur, Coordinator, Indigenous Water Policy Group
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Research update - sustainable
enterprises TRaCK 6:
Photo: Dhimurru rangers, shown here welcoming visitors to
country, are involved with case study project 6.3.
NAILSMA is coordinating research under TRaCK Theme 6 (Sustainable
Enterprises) which is investigating opportunities for sustainable
enterprises, based around river resources. Here's an update:
Water Markets: TRaCK Project 6.1
Researchers recently delivered a report on their Task 1:
Analysis of institutional arrangements and constraints affecting
the establishment of water markets across northern Australia.
Dr William Nikolakis is travelling across north Australia
conducting structured interviews with stakeholders regarding their
values and attitudes toward water trading (Task 2 of the project).
The project is supervised by Professor Quentin Grafton of the
Crawford School of Economics at the ANU.
Water Rights: Project 6.2
Project Leader, Michael O’Donnell, is due to deliver his
final report on law and policy influencing water use before the end
of the year.
Case Study - Maningrida Region and NE Arnhem Land Project
6.3
The Arnhem Land Case Study is well underway with the employment of
the researcher, Dr Nanni Concu, in July 2009. The project is
supervised by Professor Jon Altman of the Centre for Aboriginal
Economic Policy Research at the ANU. The focus areas for the
project are the Maningrida Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in
central Arnhem Land and the Dhimurru IPA in NE Arnhem Land.
Case Studies - Archer River Cape York Project 6.4 and Fitzroy
River Kimberley Project 6.5
These case studies are just getting underway after community
consultations in August and getting the green light from the TRaCK
Program Management Committee in October.
Click here
for more information about the Sustainable Enterprise project and
TRaCK , the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowlege research hub.
Michael
Storrs, Coordinator - TRaCK Sustainable Enterprises
(Theme 6)
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I-Tracker workshop a huge
success
NAILSMA’s Dugong and Marine Turtle project, in partnership
with the Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme, hosted the first
I-Tracker ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop in Darwin in
October.
The aim of the workshop was to improve the I-Tracker skills of
people working with north Australian Indigenous
rangers.
Participants from across north Australia attended the workshop to
increase their knowledge and learn new skills.
Results from the participant feedback survey were extremely
positive with several participants saying it was the best workshop
they had attended.
Click here
to listent to I-Tracker workshop from participants, in the latest
issue of NAILSMA’s Dugong and Marine Turtle Project Talking
Newsletter.
Click here
for more about the I-Tracker project.
Click here
to see who's involved and to view a video of I-Tracker in
action.
Micha
Jackson, I-Tracker Support Officer, Dugong and Marine
Turtle Project
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NAILSMA Knowledge Series
launched
The new NAILSMA Knowledge Series provides a platform for Indigenous
and non-Indigenous people responsible for land and sea management
across Northern Australia. It is also an information point for the
dissemination of knowledge from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous
perspectives on a broad range of issues relevant to land and sea
management.
The Series will include a broad range of publications including
discussion and policy papers, research reports, workshop and
conference reports, opinion pieces, and Indigenous knowledge
publications.
Click here
to download the first publications in the series:
"Always part of us" - The socioeconomics of Indigenous
customary use and management of dugong and marine turtles—a
view from Bardi and Jawi sea
“Standing Together for Water Rights” -
Forum Report - North Australian Indigenous Experts Water Futures
Forum - Mary River August 2009
Performance Story Report - Evaluation of Investment in the
Dugong and Marine Turtle Project
I-Tracker Report - A review of the I-Tracker data collection
and management program across north Australia
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