Traditional Owners and protected area managers in the Mackay Whitsundays region have implemented an Indigenous Protected Area Co-Management Project, running over two years (2008-2010). This is the first co-management arrangement to be negotiated in the Mackay Whitsunday region and will target several key protected areas, including Cape Hillsborough and Cape Palmerston National Parks.
The project will form a working group with Traditional Owners and relevant government agencies to manage the National Parks in partnership, and employ more Indigenous Rangers to work on country.
The working group has so far partnered with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management to establish protocols for Indigenous use of regional National Parks, and for greater involvement in Park management.
The group has also worked with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to assess and develop zones for ‘appropriate National Park activities’, which will be linked to the Great Barrier Reef Zone Activities Maps.
Natural resource management group, Reef Catchments, has also been involved in the project, organising Cultural Immersion Training camps to foster partnerships between traditional owner groups and relevant government agencies.
The Indigenous Protected Areas Program began in 1997 with Indigenous people and the Australian Government embarking on a new environmental partnership. Indigenous Protected Areas give Indigenous communities the ability to manage their land’s natural and cultural values, and provides ongoing support for work to control threats such as weeds, feral animals and wildfire.
Photograph: Showing one of the many Aboriginal stone fish trap at low tide.
13 November 2009
