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Australia has ignored Indigenous land-management practices in the past, but recent moves in WA and Queensland may finally put that right.
Back in July, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek released the terrifying State of the Environment report — put together in 2021 but delayed under the previous government — which featured a clear message: Australia needs to take better advantage of land-management knowledge accrued over tens of thousands of years by First Nations peoples. “The environment is poorer because of the lack of Indigenous leadership, knowledge and management,” it stated.
We may be seeing a long-overdue acknowledgment of that knowledge. As the Worm mentioned this morning, between them, the Western Australia and Queensland governments have handed back nearly 10,000 square kilometres of ancestral lands to Indigenous communities in recent weeks.
WA has put in place the first marine parks co-designed by traditional owners and government in Australia. The three new marine parks, Bardi Jawi Gaarra, Mayala and Maiyalam, are part of the Buccaneer Archipelago, nearly 2000km north of Perth. Management of the area — home to several threatened species and wonders such as the vertical falls — will be led by Indigenous rangers, who will control fires, look after biodiversity, protect Indigenous cultural sites and teach Indigenous land-management skills.
Read more about how First Nations peoples will once again “own’ their land.
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