Government support for Indigenous cultural and natural resource management in Australia: The role of the Working on Country program

Abstract

In Australia national concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, water quantity and quality and land degradation have high priority on the government's environment agenda. With this comes the opportunity to strategically integrate Indigenous land and sea management into plans for tackling these challenges, not least because the Indigenous estatewhich includes some of the most biodiverse lands in Australia-continues to increase as a result of successful land and native title claims and the declaration of more Indigenous Protected Areas. This paper explores government support for Indigenous land and sea management focusing on the Commonwealth government's Working on Country program. The paper outlines the development of formalised Indigenous cultural and natural resource management, and the emergence of the Working on Country program is discussed in the past and current policy context. The opportunities and challenges for the future of the program, and formalised Indigenous land and sea management in Australia more broadly, are outlined. To finish, a note of cautious optimism: while an expanded Working on Country program underpinned by community-led priorities and aspirations has the potential to simultaneously ameliorate Indigenous poverty and ensure natural resource management occurs, this will require targeted investment and a more holistic and less sectoral approach from government.

Payments for environmental services and community-level socioeconomic wellbeing: Comparing programs in Vietnam and Australia

“…Firstly, it was acknowledged that communities that live near areas of environmental significance could positively contribute to the management and protection of those areas (Colfer 2005;Tole 2010;May 2010). Secondly, environmental management was recognised as a potential vehicle for poverty alleviation because the poorest people are often the most directly dependent on and connected with their environment (Asia News Monitor 2009; Boissière et al 2009;Adhikari & Agrawal 2013;WWF 2015).…”

“…Indigenous people's traditional knowledge of Country is increasingly being recognised as holding unique potential for improving the management of the environment (Baker et al 2001;May 2010), particularly because of the high proportion of environmentally significant areas that are Indigenous-owned and the number of Indigenous people who reside in these otherwise remote areas (Altman 2012). The establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas, joint-management initiatives, Caring for Our Country and Working on Country (WoC) reflect this growing awareness (Baker et al 2001).…”

“…WoC, on the other hand, is a state-sponsored program that evolved from existing, community-instigated programs (May 2010;Green & Morrison 2012). The programs reflect community interest in environmental preservation and local concerns (Marika et al 2012).…”

“…Many reviews of community environmental management and PES advocate for strong community involvement and claim that community involvement is a crucial feature of successful programs (Baker et al 2001;Colfer 2005;Sheil et al 2006;Boissière et al 2009;Mustalahti 2009;May 2010;Tole 2010;Altman 2012;Thuy et al 2013;KimDung, et al 2013;Measham & Lumbasi 2013). This suggests that PES are more successful when communities are consulted about the nature and extent of their involvement and provide the impetus for the program.…”

“…Some of the identified benefits are listed in Table 2. These benefits result from the program's whole-of-community approach and the impact of connectedness with Country and the health of Country on Indigenous people's physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual wellbeing (May, 2010;Green & Morrison 2012;Marika et al 2012). These benefits are also felt particularly strongly in the context of recent colonisation, dispossession and suppression (Green & Morrison 2012;Marika et al 2012).…”