Indigenous Partnerships in Protected Area Management in Australia: Three Case Studies

Indigenous Partnerships in Protected Area Management in Australia: Three case studies TONI BAUMAN AND DERMOT SMYTH 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES StRAIT ISLANDER StUDIES THE AUSTRALIAN COLLABORatION FUNDED BY THE POOLA FOUNDatION (TOM KANTOR FUND) First published in 2007 by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies © Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and The Australian Collaboration 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its education purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. GPO Box 553, Canberra, ACT 2601 Phone (61 2) 6246 1111 Fax (61 2) 6261 4288 Email [email protected] Web www.aiatsis.gov.au The Australian Collaboration 5 St Vincent Place, Albert Park, Victoria 3206 Phone (03) 9645 7977 Fax (03) 9690 9740 Email [email protected] Web www.australiancollaboration.com.au Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. CONTENTS Tables v About the authors vi Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations viii Executive Summary ix 1. Introduction 1 2. The policy context 4 2.1 History of Indigenous/government protected area 4 management partnerships in Australia 2.2 Approaches to joint management 5 2.3 Native title and joint management 8 2.4 Native title and IPAs 10 2.5 Other forms of co-management 10 2.6 Issues in joint management 10 2.7 Indigenous Protected Areas 13 2.8 International developments 15 2.9 Limitations of the case studies 16 3. Nitmiluk National Park: Joint management as process 17 and balancing interests 3.1 Introduction 17 3.2 Methodology 18 3.3 The context of management 18 3.4 Parties to Nitmiluk joint management 25 3.5 Balancing interests 42 3.6 The business of process 47 3.7 ‘Culture’ in the park 55 3.8 Employment and training 58 3.9 Sustainability and change 65 3.10 Conclusion: Critical success factors 68 4. Booderee National Park: On a journey to sole management 71 4.1 Location 71 4.2 History of Booderee National Park 71 4.3 Values of Booderee National Park 73 4.4 Organisations involved in joint management 76 4.5 Methodology: Conducting the Booderee National Park 78 Case Study 4.6 Partnerships: The elements of joint management at Booderee 80 4.7. Successes and challenges 91 4.8. Factors unique to Booderee 96 4.9 Conclusion: Lessons for other protected areas 98 5. Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area: 100 Sole management with partners 5.1 Location 100 5.2 History of Dhimurru IPA 100 5.3 Values of Dhimurru IPA 102 5.4 Organisations involved in Dhimurru IPA partnerships 103 5.5 Methodology: Conducting the Dhimurru IPA Case Study 109 5.6 Partnerships: Two-ways management of the Dhimurru IPA 111 5.7 Successes and challenges 120 5.8 Factors unique to Dhimurru 124 5.9 Conclusions: Lessons for other protected areas 125 6. Case study comparisons 127 7. Conclusion: Critical success factors 130 8. Recommendations 133 9. Future Research Topics References 137 Attachment 1: Recommendations from the World Parks Congress, Durban 2003 Recommendation 24: Indigenous Peoples and 141 Protected Areas Recommendation 25: Co-management of 144 Protected Areas Recommendation 26: Community Conserved Areas 146 Attachment 2: Recommendations from the Australian Government’s 149 evaluation of the Indigenous Protected Area Programme TABLES 1. Potential advantages and disadvantages of joint management 12 2. Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community timeline 74 3. People interviewed for the Booderee National Park case study 79 4. Objectives of the Draft Integrated Training Strategy 86 5. Training Strategy Actions for each target group 86 6. Payment to Wreck Bay Enterprises Ltd for contract work 91 7. Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation employees 105 8. Partner opportunities for collaboration with Dhimurru 116 9. Summary of Dhimurru income sources for 2005 and 2006 120 <v> ABOUT THE AUTHORS Toni Bauman is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra. She is an anthropologist, mediator and facilitator with around 25 years of experience in land claims and native title. She has worked extensively in recording sites of significance, and working with traditional owners to devise methods for their protection, and in issues around natural resource management. Between 2003 and 2006, Toni managed the Indigenous Facilitation and Mediation Project in the Native Title Research Unit at AIATSIS. Dermot Smyth is Principal Consultant with Smyth and Bahrdt Consultants, Atherton, and Honorary Research Fellow in Environmental Studies at James Cook University. Dermot undertakes research and consultancy projects on Indigenous environmental and resource management projects for Indigenous, government and research institutions, with a particular focus on Indigenous governance of protected areas. He carried out the initial consultancy that explored the concept of Indigenous Protected Areas in 1995, and is currently a member of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Protected Areas Advisory Group. <vi> AcKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge and thank all the participants in each of the three case studies for their time, information, insights and hospitality. Traditional owners, board members, protected area managers and staff, and members of other partner organisations were generous in their assistance to this project. The high degree of interest and enthusiasm to participate in the case study interviews and provide other assistance is an indication of the importance placed on their roles by everyone involved in making joint management and other Indigenous protected area partnerships work. It is clear that participants in these partnerships have given a great deal of thought to the journey they are all taking, and are keen to make whatever contributions they can to smoothing the path for other Indigenous protected area partnerships elsewhere in Australia. Participants in the case studies also made it clear, however, that their experiences in one location should not be transferred unquestioningly to other locations. There was wide recognition that traditional owners and other partners need to negotiate their own relationships and agreements to meet their own local needs. <vii> ABBREVIATIONS ALRA Aboriginal Land Rights Act NT 1976 AIATSIS Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies CCA Community Conserved Area CDEP Community Development Employment Program CNPPA Commission on National Park and Protected Areas DEW Department of the Environment and Water Resources DEH Department of the Environment and Heritage DEWR Department of Workplace Employment and Training KTRA Katherine Regional Tourist Association ILUA Indigenous Land Use Agreement IPA Indigenous Protected Area IUCN World Conservation Union (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) MPA Marine Protected Area NLC Northern Land Council NSW New South Wales WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre <viii> EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CASE STUDIES BACKGROUND This report presents the findings and recommendations of three case studies of Indigenous partnerships (joint management and other arrangements) in the management of protected areas in Australia. The three case studies were chosen because of their acknowledged success in achieving productive partnerships between Indigenous people, government conservation agencies and others utilising a variety of legislative and policy mechanisms. The case studies did not seek to formally evaluate the effectiveness of protected area management, but rather to describe and understand the governance and management factors that contribute to the acknowledged success of the selected protected areas. The case studies were selected to provide examples of successful Indigenous partnerships in the management of: 1. a jointly managed national park in northern Australia; 2. a jointly managed national park in southern Australia; and 3. an Indigenous Protected Area. The case studies were commissioned by the Poola Foundation (Tom Kantor Fund) in response to a proposal by the Australian Collaboration and the Australian Conservation Foundation. They form part of a wider ‘Success in Aboriginal Organisations’ project undertaken by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) for the Australian Collaboration in which an additional thirteen case studies of Aboriginal organisations were undertaken. While a number of researchers have explored issues relating to the operation of jointly managed protected areas and Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs), this is the first study to directly compare the operations of jointly management protected areas and an IPA. The case studies which were carried out in 2006 are: 1. Nitmiluk National Park (NNP), which is Aboriginal land located near Katherine in the Northern Territory,

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