Project Summary
The Sustainable Northern Landscapes and the Nexus with Indigenous Health: Healthy People, Healthy Country project was undertaken at the behest of Traditional Owners in central Arnhemland in collaboration with a transdisciplinary team of medical, ecological and social researchers.
The project was designed to test the assertion that investment in Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management (ICNRM) benefits both people and the environment, and the results have been highly encouraging.
Aboriginal people taking part in customary and contemporary land and sea management practices, particularly those living in traditional homelands, were much healthier, including lower rates of diabetes and lower risks of cardiovascular disease.
The landscape where ICNRM is practised was also in better condition according to several measures of landscape health.
Benefits from active Indigenous involvement in cultural and natural resource management are sufficiently strong to justify co-investment across a range of policy sectors.
Report and Fact Sheets
Download or order Report»» Healthy Country, Healthy People Report
Download or order Fact Sheet»» Healthy Country, Healthy People Fact Sheet
Project Code | NTU7 | Project Leaders | Stephen Garnett: April-June 2007
David Bowman: 2003-April 2007 |
Dates: Project commenced in July 2003 and completed in June 2007.
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Project TeamEnvironmental GroupDavid Bowman, CDU
Don Franklin, CDU
Owen Price, NRETA
Barry Brook, Uni Adelaide
Aaron Petty, CDU
Grant Williamson, CDU
Louis Elliott, CDU | Health GroupFay Johnston, CDU
Paul Burgess, CDU
Susan Jacklyn, CDU
Amy-Jo Vickery, CDU
Kerin O'Dea, Uni Melb | Policy GroupBev Sithole, Consultant
Tess Lea, CDU
Peter Whitehead, NRETA
Stephen Garnett, CDU
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Key Findings
The project concludes that a range of benefits may arise from Indigenous NCRM. These include improved environmental outcomes, health benefits, and other socio-cultural benefits. Indigenous NRM is a significant initiative in remote areas of northern Australia requiring further support and investment.
� Without active management by Indigenous people, northern landscapes will continue to degrade.
� Threatening processes include poor fire management and the impacts of exotic plants and animals.
� Indigenous people have demonstrated their determination to be active in the landscape. One of the most powerful recent expressions of that determination is the Indigenous ranger movement.
� Indigenous participants involved in active management of natural and cultural resources have better physical health than their counterparts who have been less involved.
� Associated health outcomes include major reductions in risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes that not only severely disrupt Indigenous society but also require large public expenditure for treatment.
� The broader Australian society benefits from increased activity of Indigenous people in northern landscapes, by mitigating adverse environmental outcomes and potentially reducing public health outlays.
� The signals are sufficiently strong to warrant immediate and recurring investments to support Indigenous resource managers.
� National policy analysis is required to:
o Ensure that investments of this sort are not undermined by contradictory Indigenous policy in such areas as support for outstations, remote housing, education and definitions of legitimate work.
o Review current investments to ensure that their scale is congruent with the seriousness of both the environmental and human problems confronted in remote and regional north Australia, with and the anticipated benefits of this integrated approach.
o Develop governance procedures so that investment success is measured in terms of cultural and natural resource management outcomes, and health outcomes, and not simply process-related targets. |
Key Recommendations
The following recommendations are derived from the research:
� Consolidate and institutionalise the new investments in ICNRM which this research demonstrates are likely to provide benefits in multiple policy domains.
� Ensure additional investments incorporate adequate capacity building in management, using a process in which both successes and failures are used for learning.
� Quantify other ancillary benefits of ICNRM to expand the proof of concept beyond physical health and the environment. In particular describe the impact of engagement in ICNRM on educational, economic, employment, governance and judicial indicators as well as mental health. This would help determine whether involvement in ICNRM can be considered an integrative force in Indigenous policy.
� Obtain a deeper understanding of the relationship between residence on outstations and ICNRM and its ancillary benefits, particularly a comparison between investment in ICNRM in very remote areas and other types of policy delivery.
� Develop national indicators for involvement in ICNRM that can be reported alongside those that measure Indigenous disadvantage and the State of the Environment. |
For further information, please contact:
Professor Stephen Garnett
School for Environmental Research
Charles Darwin University Darwin NT Australia 0909
Phone: +61 8 8946 7115
Email: stephen.garnett@cdu.edu.au
Website: www.cdu.edu.au Land & Water AustraliaLevel 1, 86 Northbourne Avenue Braddon ACT Canberra ACT Australia 2601
Phone: +61 2 6263 6000
Email: land&wateraustralia@lwa.gov.au |
