Caring for Country : Land Management : Key Issues

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Land Management

Caring for Country Unit Key Issues Fire Management
Weed Management

Key Issues

Aboriginal people have identified a number of land management issues which fall into three main categories:

Resources at Risk

Practices Requiring Change

Support Required

Old and young man in boat traditional fishing
Traditional fishing

Resources at Risk

	Traditional ecological knowledge: There is a need to speed up the work being done to record traditional knowledge. It needs to be done in ways that help in the training of young people, and, at the same time, make sure that elders keep control over the information and its future access.
	Depletion of traditional resources: This is happening on purpose and by accident, legally and illegally.
	Some plant and animal resources may be over harvested by Aboriginal people, especially around the larger communities. Examples include freshwater turtles and woody plants used for artefacts.
	Over exploitation by legitimate commercial outlets as well as illegal commercial exploitation of resources is another problem.
	And animal species that get caught and killed accidentally during commercial operations, such as dugong getting caught in nets for barramundi fishing, is yet another.
	Habitat degradation: Weed infestation is increasingly recognised as a major problem. For some animal species, such as feral pigs (Sus scrofa), and the Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), there is tension between their status as a food source and as an environmental pest.
	The advance of the exotic cane toad (Bufo marinus) is an emerging problem.
	Development related issues include:
	-	erosion due to road making;
	-	changes to environmental flows as a result of extraction and impoundment of water;
	-	pollution from lead shot used in hunting
	-	mining pollution and its control;
	-	and the introduction of exotic pasture grasses and degradation of sensitive areas as a result of pastoral activities.

Practices Requiring Change

Ranger with longneck turtle

	Greater Aboriginal involvement and respect: Aboriginal land managers recognise that they have little if any influence over resource management actions, whether on formally recognised Aboriginal lands or other sites for which they have traditional responsibility.
	This is closely linked with a failure of regulatory authorities to include relevant traditional owners in decision-making processes, despite the actual or potential impact of commercial use on subsistence harvest or maintenance of culture.
	Even when laws for wildlife management fit in with Aboriginal community views, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to enforce those laws, because personnel with delegated powers don't live in communities, and regulatory authorities are unwilling to delegate powers to local people.

	Improved communication: The issues here include the need for better communication and coordination among, and between, Aboriginal communities and government agencies and the fact that Aboriginal communities often have very poor access to government information in relation to broader developmental issues.






	Management of commercial activities: The management of tourism on, and around, Aboriginal land is an example of the general problem of fostering commercial use of natural resources without threatening continued traditional use.
	Tourists are not able to readily gain information about local land ownership and sites that are open to them, resulting in high levels of trespass and intrusion into inappropriate areas.

Support Required

	Assistance: The areas where assistance is needed include:
	-	recording ecological knowledge;
	-	developing and implementing management plans for vulnerable resources;
	-	assessing risks posed by large scale processes that are outside the control of individual communities (such as sea level rise as a consequence of global warming or large-scale resource developments); and
	-	developing formal land management programs on Aboriginal lands, including improved weed management and feral animal control.
	Training: Aboriginal people need ready access to training and education relevant to contemporary management challenges.



	Long-term funding: Aboriginal communities need secure sources of long-term funding for Indigenous land management programs and it is recognised that there is a need to look for funding support from areas other than government, such as private industry (eg mining companies) and non-government organisations.

This incomplete list of concerns clearly demonstrates the need for coordinated assistance. But to meet Aboriginal aspirations for improved land management, that assistance must respond effectively to several linked demands, such as the recognition of the determination of Aboriginal communities to resume or enhance active management of their lands.

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