Looking back to move forward: Collaborative ecological monitoring in remote Arnhem Land
Looking back to move forward: Collaborative ecological monitoring in remote Arnhem Land Journal Article
Ecological Management & Restoration
- Author(s): Emilie J. Ens, Gillian M. Towler, Cherry Daniels
- Published: 2012
- Volume: 13
Abstract: An estimated twenty per cent of Australia, almost all of which lies in remote regions, is legally owned by Indigenous people (Altman et al. 2007). Over the last few decades, many Indigenous communities have established land and sea management organisations (known as ranger groups) to fulfil cultural responsibilities for ‘looking after country’; to create jobs and manage environmental threats (Blanch 2008). In support of these community-based initiatives, governments, non-government agencies and the private sector have increasingly developed programmes to assist Indigenous Australians living and working on country to maintain conservation and cultural values. However, financial support is often coupled with expectations and demands for increased accountability (a ‘Western’ notion) and incorporation of monitoring programmes that demonstrate outcomes of cultural and natural resource management (NCRM) activities, for example, through the federal government’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement framework. The limited implementation of environmental outcome monitoring is not specific to the Indigenous land management sector, but is a broader concern of the conservation sector in Australia and internationally. However, to enable monitoring of work outcomes, baseline data, information about environmental threats and technical capacity to monitor and report are needed.
- Urls: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00627.x
- Keywords: biodiversity monitoring, Caring for Country, Indigenous land and sea management, northern Australia, participatory research