Reimagining the relationship between Gondwanan forests and Aboriginal land management in Australia's “Wet Tropics”

Abstract

The ''Wet Tropics'' of Australia host a unique variety of plant lineages that trace their origins to the super-continent of Gondwanaland. While these ''ancient'' evolutionary records are rightly emphasized in current management of the region, multidisciplinary research and lobbying by Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples have also demonstrated the significance of the cultural heritage of the ''Wet Tropics.'' Here, we evaluate the existing archeological, paleoenvironmental, and historical evidence to demonstrate the diverse ways in which these forests are globally significant, not only for their ecological heritage but also for their preservation of traces of millennia of anthropogenic activities, including active burning and food tree manipulation. We argue that detailed paleoecological, ethnobotanical, and archeological studies, working within the framework of growing national and world heritage initiatives and active application of traditional knowledge, offer the best opportunities for sustainable management of these unique environments in the face of increasingly catastrophic climate change and bushfires.

Adaptive Heritage: Is This Creative Thinking or Abandoning Our Values?

“…Pastoral heritage, as seen in many parts of North Africa, is maintained only by accepting that both climates and social conditions are continually in a state of flux [14]. The current landscapes of the Australian Wet Tropics are a function of centuries of human manipulation through fire [10,37]. Kimball [4] terms this "regenerative conservation", movement to a new state rather than the static view of conserving fixed conditions.…”

Adaptive Heritage: Is This Creative Thinking or Abandoning Our Values?

“…Pastoral heritage, as seen in many parts of North Africa, is maintained only by accepting that both climates and social conditions are continually in a state of flux (17). The current landscapes of the Australian Wet Tropics are a function of centuries of human manipulation through fire (10,39). Kimball (4) terms this "regenerative conservation", movement to a new state rather than the static view of conserving fixed conditions.…”

“…Landscape management through fire and cultivation shaped the natural values upon which the WTWHA was gazetted in the 1980s, highlighting the role of socio-ecological systems in engaging the natural heritage and the dynamic nature of the landscapes. The challenge remains that the World Heritage listing favoured management policies that restricted Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples' access to its forest environments, favouring botanical novelty and evolutionary trajectories over human history (39). Recent, more enlightened approaches of the Wet Tropics Management Authority have recognised the important role that Rainforest Aboriginal People have and do play in these dynamic landscapes (10).…”

The Unique Australian Flora, A Veritable Pandora’s Pharmacopeia of Compounds with Therapeutic Biomedical Potential: Are the Chalcones the Geni in The Box?

“…Unique plant lineages in Australia can be traced back to their origins in the super-continent of Gondwanaland [156], these represent part of the ancient evolutionary records of the pre-history of the Australian continent [157]. The origins of some key plant species have even been traced back to the Gondwanaland super-massif prior to its break-up and some of these have been identified in the present day Australian flora.…”