Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef
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TitleTraditional second Owners line of the OPTIONALGreat BarrierSUB LINE Reef: DATEThe Next Generation of Reef 2050 Actions Final Report From The Reef 2050 Traditional Owner Aspirations Project December 2018 Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef: The Next Generation of Reef 2050 Actions Allan Dale1, Liz Wren2, Duane Fraser2, Leah Talbot3, Rosemary Hill3, Libby Evans-Illidge4, Traceylee Forester4, Michael Winer5, Melissa George6, Margaret Gooch1, Larissa Hale7, Sheriden Morris2 and Julie Carmody2 1 The Cairns Institute, James Cook University 2 Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Ltd 3 CSIRO 4 Australian Institute of Marine Science 5 Cape York Institute 6 North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance 7 Yuku Baja Muliku Landowner and Reserves Ltd © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2018 Creative Commons Attribution Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef: The Next Generation of Reef 2050 Actions is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see Creative Commons website - Attribution 4.0 International page This report should be attributed as Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef: The Next Generation of Reef 2050 Actions, Commonwealth of Australia 2018. The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre’. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Energy. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Traditional Owners of the GBR: The Next Generation of Reef 2050 Actions CONTENTS Contents .................................................................................................................................. i List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ iv Acronyms ............................................................................................................................... v Glossary ............................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ x Foreward .............................................................................................................................. xii Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. 1 Contract Checklist ................................................................................................................. 6 1.0 Introduction and Context ................................................................................................. 9 1.1 An Overview of Traditional Owner Sea Country Governance in the GBR ..................... 9 1.2 The Struggle of Traditional Owners in Securing Sea Country Interests in the GBR .....11 1.3 The Reef Consortium Supporting GBR Traditional Owners ....................................16 1.4 Consortium Method and Approach .........................................................................17 2.0 Traditional Owner Governance in the GBR .....................................................................19 2.1 Traditional Owners, Resources and Other Users in the GBR ......................................19 2.2 The Economic Status of Traditional Owners in GBR Sea Country ..............................22 2.3 Traditional Owner Aspirations for Land-Sea Country in the GBR ................................24 2.4 Traditional Owner Governance Arrangements for the GBR .........................................26 Non-Indigenous Governance of Traditional Owner Interests in the GBR .......................28 The Complexity of Traditional Owner Governance Arrangements .................................28 2.5 The Challenge for Agency Appointed Indigenous Representation ...............................29 3.0 How Traditional Owners have Driven the Reef 2050 Plan and What has it delivered? ....32 3.1 What the Reef 2050 Plan Said and How it Was Developed ........................................32 3.2 Traditional Owner Input and Refinement of the Reef 2050 Plan: The Journey ............33 Traditional Owner Led Framework 2010-14...................................................................33 The Onset of More Government Led Approaches .........................................................34 First Presentation of Traditional Owner Aspirations to the Reef 2050 Plan ....................35 First Attempts at Implementation of Traditional Owner Aspirations Under Reef 2050 Plan ......................................................................................................................................36 First Review of Traditional Owner Aspirations Under the Reef 2050 Plan .....................36 Re-testing Reef 2050 Traditional Owner Aspirations with GBR Traditional Owners .......37 3.3 Where to With the Current Reef 2050 Plan Actions .....................................................39 3.4 An Overarching Program Logic for the 2020 Review ...................................................41 i Dale et al. 4.0 What has Changed for Traditional Owners since the Reef 2050 Plan? ...........................43 4.1 Growing Recognition of Traditional Owners’ Rights ....................................................43 4.2 Aspirations of Traditional Owners to Address Reef Decline ........................................45 4.3 Traditional Owner Feedback on Governance Arrangements .......................................47 4.4 The Implications of Free Prior and Informed Consent .............................................52 Free Prior and Informed Consent ..................................................................................52 Consent in Australian Heritage Legislation ....................................................................53 Native Title Consent ......................................................................................................54 The Growing Importance of Indigenous Consent in UNESCO Dialogue ........................55 Revisions to the Operational Guidelines: 2015 and 2017 ..............................................56 5.0 Key Strategic Themes Emerging for Traditional Owners in Reef 2050 Going Forward ...57 5.1 Broad Strategic Themes Identified by Traditional Owners ...........................................57 5.2 An Analysis of Emerging Rights and Past Agreement Approaches ........................58 Increasing Sea Country Ownership ...............................................................................60 Increasing Indigenous Land Ownership .........................................................................61 Cultural, Fishing and Hunting Rights .............................................................................62 Experience in Local Agreement Making: S. 39ZA of the GBR Marine Park Act .............62 Experience in Local Agreement Making: TUMRAs ........................................................63 Experience in Local Agreement Making: ILUAs .............................................................64 5.3 The Potential for Regional Agreement Making ............................................................64 5.4 The Need to Support Economic Development ............................................................65 5.5 Improving Local Governance Capacity and Infrastructure ...........................................67 5.6 Governmental Relations at the Whole of Reef Scale ..............................................67 International Examples of Wider Agreements with Traditional Owners ..........................69 An Australian Case Study in Shared Governance of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (Talbot 2017) .................................................................................................................70 5.7 Why Meaningful Engagement in Knowledge Building is Important ..............................70 Principles for Knowledge Partnerships ..........................................................................71 Implementing Knowledge Partnerships .........................................................................74 Challenges for Engagement and Knowledge Partnerships ............................................74 6.0 Key Components of a Shared Approach to Governing the Reef .....................................78 6.1 Introduction and Framing of a Shared Approach ....................................................78 6.2 Building Local Strength and Capacity of Traditional Owner Groups ........................80