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Indigenous Communities

and the Environment

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• Download Indigenous Knowledge Forum Alice Springs 28-29 May 2003 - Workshop Outcomes (PDF - 394 KB)

About the publication

A planning workshop was held at Desert Park,Alice Springs on 28-29 May 2003, hosted by the Biodiversity Trends Section of the Department of the Environment and Heritage.

This workshop builds on a number of previous workshops hosted by the Department of the Environment and Heritage,including the Indigenous Knowledge Workshop held on 14-15 February 2002 in Canberra, which highlighted the need for urgent action to address:

• the rapid Indigenous knowledge loss currently occurring throughout Australia
• improved protection,documentation and recording of current Indigenous knowledge in ways that maintain integrity of knowledge ownership within Indigenous communities
• the rapidly declining transfer of Indigenous knowledge from one generation to the next

The purpose of the workshop was to recommend how Indigenous knowledge works with regional delivery of natural resource management in the rangelands.

The outcomes of the workshop were:

• clarification of how regional delivery of natural resource management planning will occur
• identification of issues that support Indigenous knowledge
• design of a framework for working with Indigenous knowledge in regional planning
• development of processes and protocols for implementing at the ground level
• specified ways forward at the community, regional group and agency levels

The outcomes are expressed in three documents:

• Ways to improve community engagement
  for Indigenous communities - ideas on how to get Indigenous knowledge into the heart of land management practices in the community
• Guidelines for regional bodies
  for regional planning groups - a simple outline that indicates:
  • expectations
  • a draft framework
  • protocols
  • processes when they are working with Indigenous knowledge
• Recommendations for Commonwealth agencies
  for Australian Government agencies - recommendations on how they can work more effectively with Indigenous knowledge

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• Indigenous Australians Caring for Country
  • Indigenous Protected Areas
    • Map of IPA locations
    • Declared IPAs
    • What is an Indigenous Protected Area?
    • IPA Advisory Group
    • Goals of the IPA program
    • Establishing a protected area
    • Assessing IPA applications
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    • Funding table
    • Caring for Our Country 
    • Fact sheet
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