Terrain NRM has spent the last five years building partnerships with Indigenous communities across the region to improve Indigenous engagement and participation in conservation activities.
The establishment of Terrain’s Traditional Owner Advisory Committee in 2004 has been a key component of these activities, addressing Traditional Owner aspirations for managing country in the region. The Committee’s work has recently resulted in the establishment of a devoted Traditional Owner engagement program within Terrain, and the appointment of a second Indigenous Director to Terrain’s management Board. This has enabled Terrain to provide significant financial and staff support to many Indigenous projects across the region, despite a significant lack of funding from State and Federal Government programs.
Regional projects that Terrain has supported have included four Traditional Owner groups recording and storing cultural knowledge, three Traditional Owner groups implementing Working on Country and/or Indigenous Protected Area projects, two Aboriginal Local Government Councils implementing their cultural natural resource management plans, eight Indigenous groups with Indigenous land use agreements in place, and the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, which represents nine Traditional Owner groups.
Terrain has also supported a bid to have the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area relisted for its cultural values, and the Traditional Owner Advisory Committee has provided significant input into a number of State Government policies, including the review of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003.
This is only a snapshot of the many levels of Traditional Owner engagement being worked on and developed by staff and directors within Terrain. This year, and into 2010, new area team arrangements will be implemented to further improve this work, bringing together local government, catchment and Landcare group delivery systems.
13 November 2009
