Indigenous knowledge
Guidelines
The Australian Government has produced a series of guidelines for councils, regional bodies, Commonwealth agencies and others when working with indigenous knowledge in natural resource management. These guidelines outline useful principles and approaches for working with Aboriginal communities. These publications include:
- Guidelines for Regional Bodies: Working with Indigenous Knowledge in Natural Resource Management
- Sea Forum Case Study: Working with Indigenous Knowledge in Natural Resource Management
- Ways to Improve Community Engagement: Working with Indigenous Knowledge in Natural Resource Management
- Guidelines for Indigenous Participation in Natural Resource Management
Resources
The Australian Government has also provided a number of resources as part of the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) program.
- Straight Talking. A Guide to Negotiating and Consulting with Remote Area Local Government Councils
- This is a Local Government Association of the Northern Territory (LGANT) publication for people working or consulting with Indigenous communities.
- Inquiry into Capacity Building in Indigenous Communities
- A Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Affairs. (Whitehead, P Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management NTU).
- Capacity Building for Indigenous Economic Development: A Briefing for the Indigenous Economic Development Task Force
- A publication by Northern Land Council, 2004
- Economic Development and Participation for Remote Indigenous Communities; Best Practice, Evident Barriers, and Innovative Solutions in the Hybrid Economy
- Altman, J (2003) Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU
- Inquiry into Capacity Building in Indigenous Communities
- A submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Affairs (Northern Land Council 2002).
- Caring for Country: The Rapidly Developing Formalised Structure for Aboriginal Natural Resource Management in the Northern Land Council Region of the NT (NLC 2003).
- Healthy Country - Healthy Families
- Caring for Country is an initiative of the Northern Land Council Caring for Country Strategy 2003 - 2006 (NLC 2003)
- Community Capacity Building
- The Central Land Council has published several discussion papers about landmanagement issues in the Central Australia, including an ATSIC discussion paper (author unknown).
- Cape York Development Corporation
- The Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation are involved in several land management projects
- Indigenous Land Council
- One of the Indigenous Land Council's main functions is to assist Indigenous peoples in Australia to manage Indigenous-held land in a sustainable way to provide cultural, social, economic or environmental benefits for themselves and for future generations.
- Strategy for Aboriginal Managed Land in Victoria (SAMLIV)
- The Strategy for Aboriginal Managed Land in Victoria is a key new direction and initiative in building a strategic framework for Aboriginal managed lands in Victoria.
The Indigenous Land Management Facilitator network
There is also an Indigenous Land Management Facilitator (ILMF) network under the Natural Resource Management (NRM) program to encourage Indigenous communities to participate in Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) projects on land under their care, or in which they have an interest.
The facilitators provide information to Indigenous communities about the types of support and technical advice which is available to assist them with management issues on their lands. The facilitators also provide feedback to Australian Government policy-makers on land management issues that are of concern to indigenous communities. They help to raise awareness within government agencies and the non-indigenous communities of indigenous values, aspirations and capacity in land management.
