COMMIT TO IMPLEMENT AGREED ACTIONS THE ‘RIGHT’ WAY AND EVALUATE THE IMPACT
Cultural burn in Arakwal National Park to restore the Byron Bay Graminoid Clay Heath
DPIE
The Arakwal people and NPWS staff committed to work together to implement the agreed actions. NPWS included actions in the annual operations plan and worked with Arakwal people to create opportunities for them to connect with the orchid and its heath habitat. They recognised this as an important part of maintaining and strengthening the cultural values. Before this project, the heath had not been burned for 30 years due to the difficulty of getting approval for a cultural burn of bushland next to a suburban area. Even though the cultural burn required a lot of resources, NPWS prepared and approved a burn plan and Arakwal people undertook cultural activities such as seed collection ahead of the fire. Fortunately, in 2018 all the conditions were suitable for a small cultural burn. The health of the heath has been surveyed by Arakwal NPWS staff post fire with additional sightings of Byron Bay orchid have been reported.
As a result of this project a seasonal planning calendar which highlights how management actions are scheduled through year, factoring in seasons, opportunities, weather and traditional practices was co-created. The calendar brings together culture, ecology and management actions in an easy to understand form that is both a communication and a scheduling tool.
Arakwal people and NPWS worked together to prioritise and undertake both cultural and ecological management activities with relatively small amounts of additional funding. Arakwal people were not constrained in what the money could be spent on as long as it was to support implementation which meant that cultural activities and bringing community members on Country could occur.
Everyone involved in the project realised the importance of celebrating success as a way to inspire the whole team and to realise the value of monitoring. Celebrating success led to people looking for ways to improve and to look to the future and new opportunities.
By using a new method to review priority actions through a cultural lens, the Arakwal NP Plan of Management was examined anew which refocussed management actions to protect and restore the cultural and ecological health of the clay heath.
DEVELOP A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VALUES AND HOW TO LOOK AFTER THEM
Through the three workshops, Arakwal knowledge holders had time to identify, discuss and build consent on the priority values, most important actions and how to evaluate success.
Through this process, protecting and caring for the Byron Bay orchid and its habitat, the graminoid clay heath were identified as the highest priority for management. Both have cross-cultural significance as they have cultural significance for Arakwal people and are listed as endangered under Australian Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. NPWS and Arakwal people are working to protect these values but are faced with challenges of limited resources and information.
Ten key actions were identified to help manage the cultural and ecological values of the orchid and its habitat including: activities to bring people on country, management of weeds and encroaching trees in the clay heath habitat, harvesting of seeds and fruits, communication to reduce impacts of neighbours and visitors. One of the most important actions identified was to undertake a cultural burn in the heath which requires burning to regenerate and control weeds and invasive plants. Cultural burning is defined as “burning practices developed by Aboriginal people to enhance the health of the land and its people” (Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation).
Using the IUCN Green List Standard provided an opportunity to look at the ways of identifying values, prioritising actions and evaluating success. The workshops were held over many months providing time for everyone to bring relevant knowledge and also reflect on the outcomes of the previous workshop. The prioritisation method ranked actions by how beneficial they would be and how many resources were required for implementation. This meant that the most beneficial actions were prioritised even if they required a lot of resources.
To ensure genuine cross-cultural input it was important to define values and priorities based on Arakwal leadership from the outset.
PARK MANAGERS AND TRADITIONAL OWNERS AGREE HOW TO WORK TOGETHER
Arakwal traditional owners, ranger and NPWS manager working together
DPIE
Arakwal Field staff Weed Control, Cape Byron State Conservation Area
DPIE - David Young
The principles and ethics of applying a cross-cultural approach were established at the outset. It was important that this was an Arakwal led process and they had a strong voice in setting up the collaboration framework. This included who the knowledge holders were, how information could be shared within the Arakwal community, within the joint management team and with the wider non-Aboriginal community, who had a say in prioritising values, how to engage the Arakwal and broader Byron Bay communities and the time frame that suited all participants. Arakwal rangers, Arakwal community, researchers and NPWS managers collaborated to identify a vision and shared purpose through a series of workshops. Together they developed the vision for the orchid and surrounding habitat, "this species and place is in healthy condition into the future, and that the areas and its values are cared for, learned about and used by the Arakwal people”.
Everyone was committed to the project and was open to new ideas and insights. Park managers, Arakwal rangers and Arakwal community were open to examining the ways they had been working together and working with others to enhance what was already a very successful program. A key factor in the success of this project was working in collaboration with researchers from CSIRO who had applied similar approaches with Indigenous communities elsewhere in Australia successfully.
Even though Arakwal NP governance and joint-management arrangements were already very strong and successful, there was opportunity to use new ways to enhance collaboration. Taking time to articulate and discuss principles and ethics provided the foundation for openness and collaboration and an understanding of the right way to do the rest of the project. There are many ways that Indigenous views and knowledge can be incorporated with science and management, depending on the situation, so it was important to use the approach that worked in this case.
PARK MANAGERS AND TRADITIONAL OWNERS AGREE HOW TO WORK TOGETHER
DEVELOP A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VALUES AND HOW TO LOOK AFTER THEM
COMMIT TO IMPLEMENT AGREED ACTIONS THE ‘RIGHT’ WAY AND EVALUATE THE IMPACT
Training and capacity building
Women meeting
CEJAD
Public awareness and trained community groups in old town on plastic waste substitution, recycling, reduction, recovery, and safe disposal practices.
Equipping the women artisans with machinery, tools, and equipment for making sculptures and items out of plastic waste as well as training women artisans on product development and packaging was very well informed.
Empowerment is just a means to an end in ensuring that plastic waste management is mainstreamed.
Establishing enterprises: This factor has been critical in sneering sustainability is enhanced all through, including linking the community groups with financial institutions to enhance their financial management skills.
Established a model centre at the Madubaa landing site for demonstrating best practices for zero-waste, 3Rs (reducing, recycling and re-using), showcasing viable plastic waste products and enterprises, troubleshooting, and continuous learning.
Provide incentives to catalyse waste segregation at source as well as compliment it advocacy awareness to ensure county governments step their roles and function of proper waste management enforcement.
Develop programs that enhance paradigm shift to promote circularity among stakeholders in a consultative manner. i.e. walk with them through the journey, co-creation sessions.
CEJAD realized the value of engagement is very critical in getting various stakeholders with different needs to realign consequently unlocking resources as well as forge alliances for meaningful participatory development.
Forums were held in the community to ensure that public participation is at the heart of the marine plastic waste as well as getting community groups to own the problem and take charge.
Alliance: Establishing alliances has contributed to ensure the perpetuity of the plastics value chain as well as the development of marketing platforms for plastic waste products.
Stakeholder engagement: Establishing platforms and fora is very critical in getting various stakeholders with different needs to realign and get buy-in from partners consequently unlocking resources as well as forge alliances for meaningful participatory development. Forums were held in the community to ensure that public participation is at the heart of development.
Proper documentation must be followed through with action points that are all rounded as well as approved by all to enhance accountability.
Amplify and provide visibility for impactful members so as they can be champions and ambassadors for plastic waste management.
Link the training to sources funding for the sustainability of the ventures for desired outcomes as well as continuous mentorships and coaching sessions including table banking.
Cooperation must be at the heart of the engagement to facilitate waste management initiatives.
