Welcome again to all those readers and supporters of
Indigenous land and sea management in northern Australia. In this
edition, we again present important stories of Indigenous people
carrying out critically important and challenging work on country
using Indigenous Knowledge and western science knowledge to better
manage country. These efforts benefit everyone in Australia –
by having a robust and independent Indigenous management regime in
the region will allow remaining biodiversity and other natural
resources to be managed in an appropriate way while Indigenous
lives can be rebuilt.
This year has turned out to be extremely busy for NAILSMA and the
broader land and sea network. We started our year with the launch
of our Water Policy Statement, Strategic Planning for our carbon
offset project, hosting a Climate Change Workshop and convening the
inaugural Saltwater People Network and Strategic Planning with the
NAILSMA Board. In many localities, community based land and sea
management groups continue to grow rapidly in the north with a high
level of demand, particularly by young men and women.
During February we had a large gathering of people come together to
plan and structure the work of the NAILSMA Carbon Project. This
week long exercise involved the research community, community
rangers and Traditional Owners, various ranger group Facilitators,
Australian Government and conservation NGO’s. The large
‘family’ involved in this exercise shows that good,
community based research and development can occur. And while there
is a long way to go to reach an end point, this project presents a
positive model for moving forward with the community, not in
front.
In March, NAILSMA launched its water policy statement at the
Northern Territory Parliament House. Like the earlier meeting held
at Mary River in 2009, this occasion was marked by a reminder that
Indigenous people in northern Australia take development of the
north very seriously. The statement was a clear articulation of the
aspirations that Indigenous people have towards water, in
particular the need to ensure that all water management plans must
have an allocation for Indigenous consumptive and commercial use
and that we cannot be left in the environmental allocation and not
participate in the broader economy. There remains a lot of work to
do in the water policy space, and while we await the states and
commonwealth to respond to this statement, we will continue to work
towards positioning Indigenous people in the best policy position
we can through collaborative research and practical on-country work
with Indigenous people.
The work of NAILSMA in water policy and management has supported
the establishment of the ‘First Peoples Water Engagement
Council’, facilitated by the National Water Commission that
brings together a number of Indigenous people to assist the
Commission drive policy change in water across the nation. I wish
the group all the best.
In April we hosted a Climate Change workshop in partnership with
the University of Melbourne and the National Climate Change
Adaptation Research Facility. This meeting brought together a
number of Indigenous groups to present their local stories and
responses to climate change. This contrasted strongly with the
dialogue that occurs at the national and international level. It
highlighted the need for the climate change debate to be inclusive
of Indigenous people and their unique issues and knowledge.
Combining poor Indigenous health, with ageing and sometimes
non-existent infrastructure in rural and remote Australia leaves a
potential disaster to unfold.
During this conference there was a strong call from delegates to
the Australian Government to release a long overdue report –
Risks from Climate Change to Indigenous Communities in the Tropical
North of Australia, which evidently was released shortly after the
meeting. This report, the first of its kind provides some
desperately required data about changes people have been
experiencing at a local level. However, just as importantly, the
report highlights the climate change needs by remotely located
Indigenous people for improved infrastructure, health and other
services. Importantly land and sea management is a positive force
to support adaptation and mitigation efforts and several case
studies highlight the great work being conducted by Indigenous
people.
Also in April, the Kimberley Ranger Conference was held at Home
Valley Station and attended by a large and growing number of
existing and aspiring rangers (Look out for this story in the next
Kantri Laif). The number of people at the gathering (over 150)
shows the rapid growth of Indigenous land and sea managers across
the Kimberley. This was the situation in Cape York where a similar
gathering supported by Balkanu got a large number of land and sea
managers together to discuss management of important lands and seas
in the Cape.
During May through to August a lot of fieldwork took place for the
carbon and water projects. At many locations across the north a
number of rangers and facilitators got together with researchers
and others to start measuring, monitoring and reviewing their work
to date. A meeting hosted by Kowanyama Land and Natural Resource
Management provided a fantastic setting for a great meeting to
review and plan the remainder of our Indigenous Community Water
Facilitator Network.
The rapid growth of the Indigenous management movement across the
north will however require careful planning and consideration going
forward. NAILSMA will continue to focus on improving policy and
investment outcomes for Indigenous land and sea managers in the
present and into the future. This brings us back to my last column
in Kantri Laif, that is, that consideration of the primary place
Indigenous people must have in the future of the north. Regardless
if it is as a land manager, or working on a cattle property or
tourism enterprise, Indigenous people must drive future development
of northern Australia for all Australians to benefit.
The future will present further challenges for NAILSMA, including
following up from the work started by the Northern Taskforce,
chaired by Bunuba leader Joe Ross from Fitzroy Crossing. The
collective work of many organizations and development in northern
Australia suggest that there is a time to change the way
development occurs in northern Australia. While development can be
seen to be inevitable, I believe that it will be important that the
full range of potential options are explored and where necessary,
developed by Indigenous people. Partnerships between Indigenous
people, their agencies and external agencies such as The Nature
Conservancy and EcoTrust Australia will be necessary.
On this note, the research community will need to take a look at
itself in terms of how it goes about conducting research and the
question needs to be asked constantly - for whom is that research
being conducted? And who is benefiting from this research? The land
and sea management growth in northern Australia is a clear example
where there is a need to ensure sustainability of this growth, that
there is control by local people with appropriate governance
structures put in place and that research is a partnership between
the practitioners, indigenous agencies and the research community
to ensure that uptake of knowledge generated is maximized.
Lastly, I would like to welcome staff members Donna Bush, Shane
Stevens, Jonas Lewin and Emma Ignjic to the NAILSMA family in
Darwin.
I would like to dedicate this Kantri Laif to Kalem Ronberg, a
much-loved colleague who we will remember forever.
