Creating an ecologically sustainable northern Australia Dr Rosemary Hill Northern Australia Program...
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Transcript of Creating an ecologically sustainable northern Australia Dr Rosemary Hill Northern Australia Program...
Creating an ecologically sustainable northern Australia
Dr Rosemary HillNorthern Australia Program CoordinatorAustralian Conservation Foundation
Overview
_ Culture and nature: the importance of the north
_ Consequences of our current direction_ Sustainability: nature and culture_ Charting true sustainability
What makes the north important globally? - nature and culture
Outstanding natural values
_ rare, endemic, endangered animals - Gouldian finch, spotted cuscus, golden-backed tree rat
_ wetlands of national and international significance
_ the most extensive eucalpyt forests in the world
_ complex island archipelagoes around the sunken Kimberley coastline
Relatively good condition_ most intact tropical savanna landscapes in the
world_ less than 1% cleared in Cape York Peninsula
and the Kimberleys_ Biodiversity Audit findings:
_ health of nationally important wetlands generally good
_ mostly near pristine estuaries in northern Australia
Slower rate of mammal attrition
remember the highest mammal extinction rate
in the world, accounting for a third of global extinctions
Centre of cultural diversity• Part of WWF’s
map of global ethnolinguistic groups
• low density population (around 0.1 people per km2 cf 4 in southern Australia)
• Diversity of language, art, music, resources
Connections to country
_ “country is living entity with a yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness, and a will towards life”
_ places are travelled, known, described in song, dance, design, stories
_ fire, season, resources_ “country of the heart”
Keeping country strong
_ Indigenous land and cultural management agencies: Balkanu, NLC, KLC, Dhimurru, Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku…
_ Resistance to industrialisation: the Mirrar people; Wuthathi people heroic struggles at Jabiluka and Shelburne
Consequences of our current direction
Northern Australia Forum eg.
_ acknowledges “clean green and tropical” as a key competitive advantage but recommends:• development of irrigated horticulture• intensification of beef production• mining and mineral production• clearing for plantation forestry
Consequences for the land
_ Declines in mammal numbers and granivorous birds….Why?• broadscale clearing- most important -
threatens specific ecosystems on CYP <1% clearing
• grazing, inappropriate fire regimes, feral animals and exotic weeds, water development (salinisation in the Ord)
• global climate change….
Gamba grass
Grazing impact
Consequences for the people
_ Australia-wide Indigenous peoples have the lowest economic status
_ Kimberley: apprehension rate for young Indigenous 3 times that for non-Indig.
_ Cape York: almost 25% of adults with signs of early kidney disease in one health check
Major development projects...
Kakadu: no improvement throughout the 80s despite $ from mine, Park
Sustainability: nature and culture
Creating sustainability
_ Passing onto future generations the same opportunities we enjoy
_ Natural assets: environmentally appropriate development
_ Cultural diversity, which is the basic fabric of human life: culturally appropriate development
Environmentally appropriate
_ Underpinned by best ecological science_ Avoid where possible the impacts identified
as most damaging: no broadscale clearing or major water impoundment/extraction
_ Control those impacts that can’t be eliminated: fire regimes, weeds and feral animals
_ Ecologically modern: renewables, efficient
Growth industries!
natural and cultural heritage-based tourism; cultural industries (arts) - fastest growing in the
world land and water management - international education
and training - knowledge industries commercial farming of wildlife rehabilitation of lands retired from grazing and
extractive uses such as mining renewable energy, efficient technologies .
Culturally appropriate_ Indigenous leadership_ NT Forum on Indigenous Econ. Devel.:
_ good governance_ cultural industries (largest employer of Indigenous people in NT)_ tourism_ wildlife farming_ caring for country, carbon accumulation through fire
management_ also interest in sustainable pastoralism and mining
_ Synergies here!
Charting sustainability - or how to steer in a different direction?
Get real!..generate hope_ Don’t start in the opposite direction:
recognise the north is marginal for pastoralism, agriculture and that large scale developments have not benefited broadly
_ focus on nature and culture_ support, respect, recognise Indigenous
leadership and communities_ protect our country - keep the trees, keep
the rivers wild, listen to the curlew call at night
_ base economy on nature and culture
Stimulate debate
_ ACF/Rainforest CRC “Appropriate Economic Models Roundtable”
_ Research support important – true partnerships between Indigenous knowledge and science
_ Government policy/regulation/incentives also critical
Creating sustainability
_ Places us at the forefront of the greatest questions of our time, achieving environmental protection and reconciliation with the First Nations peoples of our global community