Author(s)

S. Vemuri & J. Gorman

Abstract

There is evidence to suggest that for >60,000 years prior to European colonisation, Indigenous Australians used ecosystem services and managed landscapes sustainably. Since that time and in the wet/dry tropics of the Northern Territory, fire, weeds and feral animals have had, and continue to have, the greatest influence on landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. Internationally, the links between Indigenous people and their experiences with natural and cultural resource management has been recognized and now have become an important and popular strategy for promoting sustainable development. Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management (INCRM) is particularly relevant in the Northern Territory of Australia and has contributed to the formation of an Indigenous ranger program to manage threats to the landscape in conjunction with customary land management practice from Aboriginal people still living on their country. A closer examination of the success of INCRM suggests that the real challenge is one of managing knowledge pluralism rather than finding a common base for the different sources of knowledge. More recently these landscapes have been subject to a number of additional threats (spread of disease from feral animals, illegal international fishing vessels, exotic ant control, fire abatement etc), which still require management at a local level. Many of these are currently being managed under a payment for environmental service (PES) type arrangement. While PES has great public cost-benefit, it needs to be determined if the model provides the best mechanism for the progress of Indigenous people. This paper is about the intricacies of issues related with linking knowledge of Indigenous people with

Keywords

PES, aboriginal, holistic, governance, aboriginal, rangers