wombat library's List: Northern Australia

Urgent government support is needed to protect rich biodiversity in Kimberley freshwater river systems, according to the editor of a new book about aquatic life in Northern Australia.

Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge researcher Brad Pusey, in conjunction with Charles Darwin University, compiled the findings of more than 30 scientists in his book Aquatic Biodiversity In Northern Australia: Patterns Threats and Future.

He said Australia’s Top End, including the Kimberley, had been identified as being an area with freshwater catchments of international significance.

“In the area we defined as Northern Australia, which is essentially from Broome across to the Northern boundary of the wet tropics ... it’s about 17 per cent of the continental area,” Dr Pusey said.

“When you look at how much of the biodiversity it holds – the least species rich group which is the waterbirds – it still holds 30 per cent of the continent’s biodiversity in that area.

“(With) freshwater fish you’ve got well over 60 per cent of the continent’s biodiversity in this relatively small area.”

But Dr Pusey said fire, weeds, feral animals and development were threatening the future of flora and fauna which are dependant on healthy river systems.

He said political willingness to fund resources for protection against those threats was needed urgently.

“It needs to be stressed that having healthy, productive waterways is of enormous value,” he said.

“We have economic value from tourism, recreational fisheries and commercial fisheries, which all rely on a healthy ecosystem, but there are a whole lot of conservation values that are going to be impacted.

“This is a region of high distinctiveness, highly endemic fauna, and (which is) recognised internationally as an area of very high ecological significance.”

Dr Pusey said most existing national parks only protected parts of rivers, enabling threats from outside the park boundaries to flow through.

He said the book was an opportunity to better inform the public about the threats to the rich ecosystems of Northern Australia.
“It’s essential that people actually know what those scenarios mean and what their outcomes might mean for the way they go about living their lives.”

Since European settlement, the greatest loss of Australian biodiversity has been the spate of extinctions of endemic mammals. Historically, these losses occurred mostly in inland and temperate parts of the country, and largely between 1890 and 1950. A new wave of extinctions is now threatening Australian mammals in northern Australia. Many mammal species are in sharp decline across the north, even in extensive natural areas managed primarily for conservation. The main evidence of this decline comes consistently from two contrasting sources: robust scientific monitoring programs and more broadscale Indigenous knowledge.

The main drivers of the mammal decline in northern Australia include inappropriate fire regimes and predation by feral cats. Cane toads are also implicated, particularly in the recent catastrophic decline of the northern quoll. Some impacts are due to vegetation changes associated with the pastoral industry. Disease could also be a factor, but there is little evidence for or against it.

Based on current trends, many native mammals will become extinct in northern Australia in the next 10–20 years, and even the largest and most iconic national parks in northern Australia will lose native mammal species. This problem needs to be solved. The first step towards a solution is to recognise the problem, and this report seeks to alert the Australian community and decision-makers to this urgent issue. Targeted management of known threats, based on the evidence currently available, is urgently required to ensure the survival of northern Australian mammal species. In part, the answer lies in more rigour and accountability in the management of conservation reserves, but it also lies in seeking to identify and deliver more conservation outcomes from all other areas. In the shorter term, strengthening the safeguards on islands off northern Australia would enable their use as a temporary refuge for ‘at risk’ species until a more comprehensive solution can be reached on the mainland.

The north-western Australian Kimberley is one of fifteen Australian biodiversity hotspots. Its coast boasts an archipelago that comprises several hundred large, and thousands of much smaller islands. While the flora and fauna of the mainland was surveyed in the late 1980s, the islands’ biota has attracted little attention. The fragile environment of the Kimberley suffers from human impacts, such as via the introduction of cattle, weeds and fire. These factors have contributed to a wave of extinctions among medium-sized mammals, but whether invertebrates are also affected has escaped our attention. Additional disturbances relating to tourism, aquaculture, oil and gas exploration, and the invasion of cane toads are expected to occur in the near future.

Remember the film The Castle? The Kerrigan family’s idyllic suburban lifestyle is threatened when a property developer compulsorily acquires their property. Well, a long way from the suburbs of Melbourne, on the spectacular red coastline of the Kimberley in WA, a similar process is taking place right now. Only this one is fact, not celluloid fiction.

There was little fanfare or public comment when W.A Premier Colin Barnett recently re-issued ‘Notices of Intention’ to take on lands between Quandong and James Price Point, 60km north of Broome, despite the land being located on the pristine and National Heritage listed Kimberley coastline. This major legal event passed quietly on 12th March 2012.

It may be the key underpinning the transfer of lands from Indigenous Traditional Owners to Woodside Petroleum....

ABSTRACT
Indigenous peoples now engage with many decentralized approaches to environmental management that offer opportunities for integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) and western science to promote cultural diversity in the management of social-ecological system sustainability. Nevertheless, processes of combining IEK with western science are diverse and affected by numerous factors, including the adaptive co-management context, the intrinsic characteristics of the natural resources, and the governance systems. We present a typology of Indigenous engagement in environmental management, derived through comparative analysis of 21 Australian case studies, and consider its implications for the integration of IEK with western science. Sociological and rational choice institutionalism underpin our analytical framework, which differentiates on three axes: (1) power sharing, incorporating decision making, rules definition, resource values and property rights; (2) participation, incorporating participatory processes, organizations engaged, and coordination approaches; (3) intercultural purpose, incorporating purposes of environmental management, Indigenous engagement, Indigenous development and capacity building. Our typology groups engagement into four types: Indigenous governed collaborations; Indigenous-driven co-governance; agency-driven co-governance; and agency governance. From our analysis of manifestations of knowledge integration across the types, we argue that Indigenous governance and Indigenous-driven co-governance provides better prospects for integration of IEK and western science for sustainability of social-ecological systems. Supporting Indigenous governance without, or with only a limited requirement for power sharing with other agencies sustains the distinct Indigenous cultural purposes underpinning IEK, and benefits knowledge integration. We conclude by advocating that the typology be applied to test its general effectiveness in guiding practitioners and researchers to develop robust governance for Indigenous knowledge integration in environmental management.
Key words: environmental planning; Indigenous ecological knowledge; integration; intercultural; governance; natural resource management

ABSTRACT


Despite the growing recognition of the contribution that indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) can make to contemporary ‘western’ science-based natural resource management (NRM), integration of the two knowledge systems has not reached its full potential in Australia. One explanation is that there is an implicit requirement for IEK to be validated by western scientific knowledge (SK), which has stalled its application and perpetuated the primacy of SK over IEK. Consequently, there is little experience of IEK validation, indigenous peoples’ perspectives of the process, and no formal frameworks to achieve mutual and equitable validation of both IEK and SK. In this paper we assess the opportunities and limitations of validation processes using a case study of traditional fishing poisons for invasive fish management in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of Australia. The study was conducted within a coresearch approach between the Aboriginal holders of the IEK, who are among the paper’s authors, and science-based biologists. We jointly carried out scientific laboratory trials that demonstrated that fishing poisons are effective at immobilizing invasive tilapia. Retrospective interviews with indigenous coresearchers showed that they did not find the experience of validation disrespectful, but instead empowering and necessary for their IEK to be understood and appreciated by scientists and included in NRM. Based on our experiences and knowledge of socialization theory we present a framework for the potential future design of collaborative validation processes to facilitate the integration of IEK into mainstream NRM, and the acceptance of SK within indigenous communities in Australia.


Key words: comanagement; fishing poisons; indigenous ecological knowledge; invasive fish; knowledge socialization; livelihoods; poisonous plants; social-ecological systems: tilapia; traditional ecological knowledge; validation

ABSTRACT


Natural resource scientists and managers increasingly recognize traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) for its potential contribution to contemporary natural resource management (NRM) and, through this, to more resilient social-ecological systems. In practice, however, inadequate cross-cultural means to organize and communicate TEK can limit its effective inclusion in management decisions. Indigenous seasonal knowledge involving temporal knowledge of biota, landscapes, weather, seasonal cycles, and their links with culture and land uses is one type of TEK relevant to this issue. We reviewed the literature on Australian Aboriginal seasonal knowledge to characterize contemporary and potential applications to NRM. This knowledge was often documented through cross-cultural collaboration in the form of ecological calendars. Our analysis revealed a variety of basic and applied environmental information in Aboriginal seasonal descriptions and calendars that can contribute directly to NRM. Documented applications have been limited to date, but include fire management, inclusion as general material in NRM plans, and interpretative information about environments. Emerging applications include water management and climate change monitoring. Importantly, seasonal knowledge can also contribute indirectly to NRM outcomes by providing an organizing framework for the recovery, retention, and cross-cultural communication of TEK and linking to its broader cultural and cosmological contexts. We conclude that by facilitating the combination of experiential with experimental knowledge and fostering complementarity of different knowledge systems, Aboriginal seasonal knowledge can increasingly contribute to more resilient social-ecological outcomes in NRM. Nevertheless, the seasonal framework should augment, rather than override, other approaches to cross-cultural NRM such as those with spatial and/or social-ecological emphasis.


Key words: Australia; Indigenous calendars; Indigenous seasons; natural resource management; traditional ecological knowledge

Today in our Carbon Challenge we find out how carbon projects are providing opportunity for indigenous people to derive an income through caring for their land.

The Kakadu plum or gubinge is a small, sweet fruit that has been an important source of nutrition in indigenous societies, and could play a role in managing climate change.
A 20 hectare plantation of gubinge on the outskirts of Broome in Western Australia is a trial plot for a new industry aimed at creating carbon offsets.
Rowan Foley, general manager of the Aboriginal Carbon Fund, came up with the idea of using gubinge as a carbon offset under the Federal Government's Carbon Farming Initiative.
The 200 or so trees were planted around ten years ago by the Kimberley College of TAFE simply as a way to promote indigenous enterprises.
Rowan believes that creating carbon offsets could help indigenous people look after country, as well as giving them "a dollar in their pocket".
"In terms of looking after country carbon farming is an option that may work for some traditional owners. If you're not doing carbon farming the options are limited, beyond tourism, mining, cattle."
Rowan comes from the Wondunna clan of the Badtjala people, traditional owners of Fraser Island and Hervey Bay in Queensland.
Last year, he organised a workshop in Cairns to draw together indigenous land managers to discuss their potential role in the carbon offsets economy.
He also encouraged the federal government to create a $22 million indigenous carbon fund.
"Considering traditional owners control 22 per cent of the land mass, I thought you can't have a national scheme without including traditional owners."
The gubinge plantation could qualify as a carbon offset in different ways. If planted in savannah bushland, gubinge could qualify as enrichment plantings, preserving biodiversity and forest growth. It could also help to reduce carbon emitting bushfires, and absorb carbon.
Kim Courtenay is a lecturer in the Kimberley College of TAFE and he says gubinge has attracted huge interest, aside from its value as a fruit high in vitamin C and antioxidants. "If this is to be adopted as a new methodology the science needs to be pinned to it."
Rowan Foley sees potential for similar carbon offset crops in other parts of Australia, including the Burdekin plum in far north Queensland.
He says another potential source of income for indigenous people is blue carbon - carbon sequestration in the ocean through preserving and encouraging growth of seagrass, mangroves and even coral reefs.
Rowan says blue carbon has huge potential in the Torres Strait where traditional owners have a big sea claim and are looking to derive an income from carbon offsets.
"There's 500 companies out there that have a carbon liability and they will source carbon from traditional owners if we go about it in the proper way."
But Rowan has warned there needs to be strong industry standards to ensure these offsets meet international guidelines and to prevent indigenous people from being "ripped off".
"It's really disappointing. A lot of people are involved with this and they're only in it to make money".
He sees huge interest from corporate investors. "The first deal that we do with a major company, you walk into their boardroom the next week, there will be a photograph on the wall of the chairman of the company shaking hands with the chairman of the land trust saying we buy their carbon, we support this community."
"Doing business with blackfellas is not easy and people are frightened by it, I'll tell you straight. But it's very rewarding."
“I was at a conference and people were saying oh you can support poor people in Africa, you can buy their carbon offsets. And I got up in front of this conference in front of one thousand people and said look mate there's a bunch of poor black fellas up the road and if you want to help poor black people why don't you buy their carbon."

Rowan Foley, general manager of the Aboriginal Carbon Fund; Kim Courtenay, a lecturer at the Kimberley College of TAFE.

Australia’s far north is a challenging place to conduct research at the best of times. A CSIRO-led project to survey these vast and remote lands in the years following World War II was ambitious in scope and methodology. But, the gamble paid off. Jen Morris explores the legacy of a remarkable scientific endeavour: the CSIRO Land Research Surveys.

The Review presents the best available quantitative estimate of the amount, distribution and use of water in the northern Australian landscape.

The Review also estimates how much land may be available for further development, given the constraints of available water.

The Review is different to the recently released Northern Australia Sustainable Yields report (NASY). The NASY report concentrated on water – its quantity, timing, location and availability.
The Review details the key limitations and enablers required for future development in the north, including environmental, social, economic and governance considerations.

The Review combines the findings from the NASY report with an analysis of how water in the north is currently used to support communities, business and the environment.

It then examines a range of options for use of land and water in northern Australia (developments) and the likely consequences of those uses, for communities, business and the environment.

The Review details the key limitations and enablers required for future development in the north, including environmental, social, economic and governance considerations.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for the Environment and Sustainability Tony Burke today announced a new program to link indigenous expertise and modern technology to improve the way we manage our environment globally.

Australia has joined with Brazil, Norway and New Zealand to form the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Land and Sea Managers Network.

The program will help share ancient environmental traditions with communities across the globe to create an internationally-focused network of Indigenous land and sea managers.

It will draw on existing networks, such as Australia’s Working on Country program which funds almost 700 Indigenous rangers to use traditional knowledge, as well as cutting-edge science to manage over 1.5 million square kilometres of land and sea country.

Speaking at the outset of the Rio + 20 conference, the Prime Minister said protecting our environment was a shared task.

That’s why we have representatives such as the Australian Indigenous community of Ardyaloon in north-west Australia here at Rio to start the exchange.

Mr Burke said it took Australia a long time to recognise that indigenous rangers were often the best placed people in Australia to provide environmental management to the land and sea country.

"Over the past few years through Working on Country, the number of indigenous rangers has now built up to around 700 - that’s 700 additional people engaged in environmental management with all the benefits of traditional knowledge," he said.

"It’s some of the best work our Environment Department is involved with and it’s a credit to every ranger that this sort of expertise is now being recognised internationally.

"Every day, including in some of the most remote parts of our continent, there are indigenous rangers conducting surveys, eliminating pests and caring for country."

Australia will formally kick-start the development of the Network through an international conference in Darwin in May 2013 to bring Indigenous peoples and local communities together from around the world to build the Network.

The Darwin conference will consider practical examples of successful knowledge exchange and call on all participants to help shape the initiative.

More information on the Network can be found at www.nrm.gov.au/indigenous/network