The Great Barrier Reef: where western and traditional knowledge meet
Using Indigenous knowledge to help manage protected areas will only make these special places stronger – that was the message given to delegates at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney today.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority showed international delegates how it had forged strong partnerships with Traditional Owners to ensure traditional ecological knowledge is used to inform on-ground, day-to-day management practices.
More than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Owner clan groups have customary estates that include land and sea country within the Great Barrier Reef. These connections go back tens of thousands of years.
Each day, Traditional Owners and Indigenous rangers apply their skills, whether it be researching and monitoring vulnerable and threatened species, spotting and reporting illegal activity, rehabilitating riparian vegetation, or protecting cultural heritage sites.
Among the real benefits of this partnership has been increased government acknowledgement of traditional customs and cultural authority, and more career pathways through recognised training.
One of the other key tools being used is ‘Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements’, developed by Traditional Owner groups and accredited by the Australian and Queensland governments.
It means Traditional Owners are managing more than 45,000 square kilometres of sea country in partnership with the Marine Park Authority, and about 25 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef coastline.
Given the strong interest expressed by other Traditional Owner groups to develop similar agreements, it seems certain these impressive figures will only continue to grow.
By Sara Lando