Julian T. Gorman

An analysis of the use of plant products for commerce in remote Aboriginal communities of northern Australia

The indigenous people of Australia have a long and well documented history of using native plants as an essential component of their customary economy. However, few have engaged successfully in commerce based on native plant use. Recently there has been an increasing interest in exploring options for use of native plants for food, food additives, botanical medicines, and related purposes. In this paper, we determine the issues important to Aboriginal people in enterprise development utilizing plant products, and we define some of the factors affecting progress in realizing opportunities. The Aboriginal people with whom we have worked appear to prefer small-scale enterprises where they have community ownership of ideas and control of the rate and direction of development. Government could play a larger and more active role through supporting additional research and marketing information, providing training, and better matching policy and legislation to support indigenous development and reduce dependence of welfare.

Eco–Enterprises and Terminalia ferdinandiana : “Best Laid Plans” and Australian Policy Lessons

Eco–Enterprises and Terminalia ferdinandiana: “Best Laid Plans” and Australian Policy Lessons. This paper reviews practical policy lessons from trade in a dietary supplement (or nutraceutical) processed from Terminalia ferdinandiana (Combretaceae), which contains extremely high levels of natural ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Most production is from wild harvest by Aboriginal people, who get USD 14 per kilogram (kg) for picked, sorted fruit. However, the main Australian company involved is struggling to get the 12 tons/year it requires, and could market much more. Although Aboriginal people ideally should benefit economically from harvest of T. ferdinandiana, there are major challenges to this objective, including Australia’s high labor costs compared to Asia, Africa, and Latin America where T. ferdinandiana can be grown. In addition, although Australia is a signatory to and plays a leading role in the international Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), this has meant little in practice so far. “Cultural branding” and certification of organic, wild harvested T. ferdinandiana fruit collected by Aboriginal people working in partnership with commercial companies offers a possibility for Aboriginal people to continue to benefit from wild harvest or enrichment plantings. However, even the establishment of commercial horticultural production within Australia faces several challenges. For Australia to maintain and develop the international market, future development of this bush food must include: (a) implementation of existing international and national policies on protection of genetic resources; (b) formation of a producer association to increase production efficiencies; (c) functioning partnerships between Aboriginal producers and commercial partners that guarantee and expand reliable supply and develop cultural branding and certification as marketing tools; and (d) scientific research into improving T. ferdinandiana fruit yields and production methods, based on improved resource management and efficient processing methods.

Production from marginal lands: indigenous commercial use of wild animals in northern Australia

Throughout the world, there are imperatives and opportunities to develop sustainable enterprises based on plants and animals to alleviate poverty. This is true for indigenous people across northern Australia, although to date there has been very limited commercial use of wildlife within indigenous Australian communities. In this study, we examine factors affecting the establishment of enterprises utilising animal species in remote indigenous communities and suggest ways of improving uptake. We found four major areas affecting the progress of these enterprises: a lack of comprehensive market information and dissemination of that knowledge; a lack of basic infrastructure and training; a need for more appropriate and flexible government policy and regulation; and adverse public perceptions. Commercialisation of native species is at a relatively early stage compared to tropical Asia, Africa and South America, and development of these enterprises has the potential to benefit indigenous livelihoods in remote and marginal areas in Australia.

Wild harvest of Cycas arnhemica (Cycadaceae): impact on survival, recruitment and growth in Arnhem Land, northern Australia

An experimental wild harvest of Cycas arnhemica K.D. Hill, an understorey plant in tropical eucalypt savannas, was conducted in central Arnhem Land, Australia. Replicated harvest treatments were monitored over 2 years with tagged individuals. A range of a priori candidate statistical models were compared to determine the effect of wild harvest and environmental factors such as fire frequency and disturbance from feral animals on survival, recruitment and stem growth. The mean density of C. arnhemica was 1630 ha −1 and ranged from 550 to 2250 ha −1 . Harvesting intensity in the 0.04-ha quadrats varied between 10 and 32% of all cycad stems (excluding seedlings). There was no clear effect of harvest treatment on stem survival, seedling abundance and stem growth on the remaining C. arnhemica 2 years after the harvest treatments were applied. Survival of woody stems was higher than that of seedlings but there was considerable overlap among the larger size classes. Seedling abundance was generally low and variable across the three sites, and seedlings were entirely absent from quadrats burnt twice during the study period. Stem growth varied considerably across the three sites and was similar between small and large stems. We suggest that the wild harvest of this abundant Cycas species in a remote region of northern Australia will have minimal impact on wild populations if focused on juvenile stems and return time is extended to 15-40 years at harvested locations. Future harvest management of this and other Cycas species in northern Australia will benefit from further research on stochastic population models to determine the most suitable harvest strategies, particularly for smaller Cycas populations.

Social implications of bridging the gap through ‘caring for country’ in remote Indigenous communities of the Northern Territory, Australia

‘Caring for country’ is a term used to describe the complex spiritual affiliation that encompasses the rights and responsibilities that Aboriginal Australians have with their land. It includes their custodial responsibilities for keeping the land healthy and its species abundant. This ontology and associated practice of ‘caring for country’ continues across large sections of the Northern Territory of Australia through customary practice and through the Indigenous Ranger Program. This Program has been described as a ‘two toolbox approach’, which combines traditional ecological knowledge with more conventional land management practice, to manage landscapes for their natural and cultural values. Since 2007 there have been several policy initiatives which have changed the dynamics in Aboriginal communities which in turn has affected the structure of the Indigenous Ranger Program. In response to the dire social conditions facing Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, the Commonwealth Government initiated the Northern Territory Emergency Response, which was a ‘top down’ approach with very little community engagement. At around the same time there was a shift in the way Indigenous Rangers jobs were funded. The unintended impact of this was a reduction in the number of Aboriginal people connected to the Ranger Program and potentially less input from culturally appropriate decision makers for land management. Another influencing policy change involved a shift in Commonwealth funding for land management from Natural Heritage Trust to Caring For Our Country funding. This new funding is more targeted and has changed the nature of the Ranger Program to being less ‘program based’ and more ‘outcome based’ by packaging many land management activities as ‘Fee for Service’ contracts. The transformation is taking place in a prescriptive manner. In this paper we advocate a more community-based approach which allows for greater community involvement in planning, decision making and governance.

Exploring the relevance of a landscape ecological paradigm for sustainable landscapes and livelihoods: A case-application from the Northern Territory Australia

Global change is exacerbating the need for more effective mechanisms and approaches for working towards economic, social/cultural and environmental sustainability. It is now well recognised that science for sustainability will require integrated problem-focussed research that is by nature trans-disciplinary. Resolutions to both global and regional scale issues must involve participation of a diverse number of stakeholders. One region that would benefit greatly from such an integrated approach is the Northern Territory of Australia. This area is home to some of the most pristine savanna landscapes in the world and it is also occupied by one of the oldest living human cultures which are still in existence today. However, in recent years there has been increasing pressure to develop this region. The Northern Territory is also facing problems associated with having a growing Aboriginal population with deepening health and social problems. So as well as needing to facilitate adaptation in response to global change and development for economic prosperity of the region, there is an obligation to alter management practices to reduce social disadvantage. In light of this, it will be important that future landscapes are multifunctional and designed to ensure the preservation of biological and cultural diversity, as well as having provision for the livelihoods of the people that live within them. This article recommends the adoption of a landscape ecological approach for strategic development and sustainable planning, which captures and incorporates the values and identities of the different stakeholders, as well as engaging them in a continuous, adaptive process of planning and management, and in doing so discusses the importance of human ecological holism as part of the conceptual framework for landscape ecology.

Destination Planning and the Sustainability of Wildlife Tourism Resources: Ongoing Challenges for Knowledge Integration

Despite the fact that the interface between wildlife and tourism has attracted increasing academic scrutiny, it has also been recognized that destination-level strategic marketing and planning constitute the least developed aspect of wildlife tourism management. The paper argues that this is partly due to ongoing challenges linked with integrating the needs of a tourism industry management perspective with those of wildlife resources planning, in particular when the diversity and distinctiveness of wildlife tourism destination types is acknowledged. The paper uses the findings emanating from the recent wildlife tourism literature (in particular on the nature of motivations of tourists participating in wildlife viewing experiences) to examine the basis for destination competitiveness in that area, and to investigate ensuing planning challenges. Subsequently, the paper examines a simple case study (wildlife-viewing in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia) where knowledge integration issues for wildlife tourism planning have been explicitly tackled with a Geographic Information System (GIS) approach.

Enhancing natural resource management through payment for ecosystem services

There is evidence to suggest that for >60,000 years prior to European colonisation, Indigenous Australians used ecosystem services and managed landscapes sustainably. Since that time and in the wet/dry tropics of the Northern Territory, fire, weeds and feral animals have had, and continue to have, the greatest influence on landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. Internationally, the links between Indigenous people and their experiences with natural and cultural resource management has been recognized and now have become an important and popular strategy for promoting sustainable development. Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management (INCRM) is particularly relevant in the Northern Territory of Australia and has contributed to the formation of an Indigenous ranger program to manage threats to the landscape in conjunction with customary land management practice from Aboriginal people still living on their country. A closer examination of the success of INCRM suggests that the real challenge is one of managing knowledge pluralism rather than finding a common base for the different sources of knowledge. More recently these landscapes have been subject to a number of additional threats (spread of disease from feral animals, illegal international fishing vessels, exotic ant control, fire abatement etc), which still require management at a local level. Many of these are currently being managed under a payment for environmental service (PES) type arrangement. While PES has great public cost-benefit, it needs to be determined if the model provides the best mechanism for the progress of Indigenous people. This paper is about the intricacies of issues related with linking knowledge of Indigenous people with

A new era of empowerment in caring for country

Through the Working on Country program and the Indigenous Land Corporation the Federal Government funds hundreds of Indigenous rangers to apply their traditional knowledge in looking after land and sea country. But, the focus on the ranger program often overshadows the role of remote Indigenous communities in ‘caring for country’ as part of a deeper spiritual connection to, and respect for, their environment.