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This collection of ‘case studies’ has been prepared as part of the CRC Reef Research Centre project Supporting the development of co-operative management in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and Indigenous peoples. It illustrates Traditional Owner and Indigenous community interests in aspects of co-operative management and how a set of Traditional Owners, communities and organizations would like to contribute to co-operative management.
These projects were first nominated in April 2002, during a joint meeting between the Southern Great Barrier Reef Sea Forum Working Group and the research project’s committee. Those invited responded with specific proposals explaining what they would like to contribute, and how they would like to do the work. The case studies were conducted entirely by the individuals and organizations concerned, using a combination of funding from the research project and their own time and resources. The working arrangements were made under an innovative ‘plain English’ research agreement which protects Indigenous intellectual property in the work while still enabling the research project to use the results (Appendix 1).
The first case study was presented by Mervyn Jukarn Johnson on behalf of the Gooreng Gooreng Traditional Owners. The case study is presented as a video recording, made with the assistance of his daughter Norelle Watson, of stories which document Indigenous connections at locations throughout the Gooreng Gooreng coastal country (see map on page 14). This case study illustrates the contributions long-term observational knowledge could make to the knowledge-base for informed co-operative management, and the depth of Traditional Owner feeling for significant places and commitment to their care. Mr Johnson documents his people’s awareness of how water quality and the coastal and marine landscape have changed over a long period, and the cultural heritage values of the places discussed. He provides historical background at a number of the locations. He demonstrates their strong interest in sharing the management of their sea and coastal country with government agencies. A particular opportunity exists with respect to Mon Repos turtle breeding area where Traditional Owners currently have no involvement and there is so far no acknowledgement of their knowledge and interests in the presentations made to visitors. It is not possible to convey the rich content of his video in this written report, but Mr Johnson has provided a supplementary written report which is included here, with a summary of the video content prepared by the editors.
The case study by Girringun Aboriginal Corporation focuses on tourism impacts in the Hinchinbrook channel and Cardwell area. The project consists of an analysis of all current tourism permit applications (current to March 2003) and interviews with selected community members about their observation of tourism impacts and concerns about these. The GBRMPA currently issues tourism permits on a case-by-case basis, and there is no mechanism for assessing their cumulative impacts or of identifying when thresholds of manageability and impact have been reached. The community is consulted about each permit application, but is also obliged by the procedure to consider each application individually rather than in cumulative terms. Impact information such as provided by this case study would enable the GBRMPA and Girringun to take a more planned approach to tourism development, through knowledge of the impacts of different types of activity and with forewarning of when acceptable limits of impact are approaching. A more planned and informed approach should also benefit the tourism industry, which would be in a better position to judge the types of application likely to succeed. The case study makes a set of proposals for managing the impacts.
Ambiilmungu Ngarra Aboriginal Corporation and Balkanu Cape York Development Agency have together written a case study which provides a starting point for possible co-operative management of an area of land and sea country in Cape York Peninsula (see map on page 74). It lists management issues significant to the Traditional Owners of the area, documents a history of Indigenous and management agency interactions with respect to these and related issues, and then examines a set of legal and management options under which co-operative management could be developed.
Together, the case studies illustrate the strength of Traditional Owner interest in co-operative management of their sea country, and their frustration at times with the weak levels of inclusion. They illustrate the depth of knowledge and strength of commitment Traditional Owners, and their organizations, could bring to a co-operative management arrangement, as well as the locational advantages of Traditional Owners providing management services on their own country. As a set, the case studies also illustrate the ways in which co-operative management could develop with a focus on issues (such as tourism in the Girringun case study, and turtles within the Gooreng Gooreng elders case study), or on multiple issues within areas of land and sea country (all three case studies). They highlight a possible workable scale for management partnerships to be developed with Indigenous people – that of traditional clan estates or small groupings of such estates.
We, and the case study authors, would like the studies to be used in two ways
- each in their own right, as starting points for discussion of co-management with GBRMPA and other agencies engaged in aspects of managing the GBRWHA
- as a set illustrating the nature of Traditional Owner aspirations towards co-management, issues of concern, and ways of developing complete or partial co-management regimes.
We leave readers to hear directly from the Traditional Owners and their organizations in the following studies, then draw some general conclusions.
For the pdf of this report, click here (Adobe Acrobat 1.8MB)
For a hard copy of the report contact CRC Reef on info@crcreef.com
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