Indigenous People’s land and sea management – restoring both nature and culture
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (Indigenous Peoples) are increasingly being recognised for their contributions to ecological restoration. Indigenous cultural and identity is intrinsically linked to connections to Country (the local environment).
Country’s health is reflective of the relationships between people and the local environment. Through the practice of cultural lore and activities Indigenous peoples have developed Indigenous management regimes that heal and maintain healthy country.
Many Indigenous land managers are involved in reinstating Indigenous management practices over large tracts of Australian lands and waters from which they have been restricted or excluded for up to two centuries.
This return of Indigenous management practice to many places – often utilising traditional ecological knowledge interacting with modern science – represents a profound form of ecological restoration and rehabilitation that is achieving cultural recovery as well as recovery of ecosystems.
General information: Working with Indigenous Australians for conservation
www.natureaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/our-priorities/climate-change/climate-change-stories/working-with-indigenous-australians-for-conservation/
1. Indigenous Protected Areas movement
There are nearly 100 IPAs across Australia, covering over 113 million hectares and making up more than 55% of the country’s National Reserve System. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/land/indigenous-protected-areas#toc_0
The Conversation article: https://theconversation.com/how-indigenous-protected-areas-became-a-vital-way-to-protect-nature-in-australia-288394
2. Examples of integrated ecosystem management and cultural restoration
2a. Martu Living Deserts, Western Australia
https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/our-priorities/land-and-freshwater/land-freshwater-stories/martu-living-deserts/
2b. Nowanup: Healing country, healing people, Western Australia
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/nowanup-healing-country-healing-people/
2c. Restoring McDonald’s Swamp, northern Victoria
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2022/06/24/biological-and-cultural-restoration-at-mcdonalds-swamp-in-northern-victoria-australia/
2d. NAILSMA land and sea restoration, northern Australia
https://nailsma.org.au/
Image – Minyumai IPA, New South Wales –
Restoring cleared and grazed paddocks using a Facilitated Natural Regeneration approach (fire and weeding)
3. Examples of returning appropriate fire regimes to the landscape
3a. West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) Program, Northern Territory
https://carbonmarketinstitute.org/projects/west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-walfa-project/
3b. Western Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project, Northern Territory
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emr.12201
3c. Northern Australian fire management and carbon abatement programmes www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00624.x/abstract
3d. Fire Abatement Carbon Project, Fish River, Northern Territory
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279951384_Payment_for_ecosystem_services_in_practice_-_savanna_burning_and_carbon_abatement_at_Fish_River_northern_Australia
3e. Kimberley Ecofire, Western Australia
https://www.australianwildlife.org/what-we-do/restoring-healthy-fire-patterns
3f. Right way science
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emr.12532
3g. Managing balds with fire, Bunya Mountains, Queensland
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/natural-and-cultural-resource-management-the-aspirations-of-the-traditional-custodians-of-the-bunya-mountains/
3h. Use of fire at Minyumai IPA, New South Wales
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/facilitated-natural-regeneration-in-the-middle-clearing-setaria-plots-of-minyumai-indigenous-protected-area-the-gap-nsw/
3i. Burning for pasture, Lachlan Valley, New South Wales
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/burning-for-pasture-biodiversity-and-culture/
4. Examples of marine, freshwater and wetland management
4a. Ghost nets, Northern Territory
https://emrprojects.wordpress.com/2019/10/20/addressing-ghost-nets-in-australia-and-beyond-update-of-emr-feature/
ALSO SEE
https://oceanearthfoundation.org.au/ghostnets-australia/
AND
4b. Lake Condah Indigenous Protected Area, Victoria
https://www.countryneedspeople.org.au/ipa_in_focus_budj_bim_indigenous_protected_area
4c. Barkindji Maraura Elders Environment Team, New South Wales
http://www.finterest.com.au/fish-habitats/barkindji-river-rangers-doing-great-things-for-fish/
4d. Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations
https://www.mldrin.org.au/about-us/