Indigenous Engagement in WQ decisions

IN BRIEF:

TOM ESPINOZA – CEO Burnett Mary Regional Group and ecologist

CONWAY BURNS – Butchulla midiru (Butchulla word for Traditional Owner) and scientist

They were asked to outline the critical success factors to achieve greater indigenous engagement in water quality decision making and their presentation talked about how they went about it.

They learnt:

• that indigenous engagement and involvement is a problem all over the world, not just Australia;
• as a result of indigenous people being excluded in decision-making, indigenous land management has largely been lost;
• while we sit and talk, the environment continues to degrade.

They identified the critical factors for Traditional Owner engagement as being:

• Understanding (Ego vs Eco).
• Respect –
  • Relationships are not just commercial, they’re emotional.
  • Need to view TOs as not just stakeholders, but decision makers.
• Collaboration – Recognise the knowledge and wisdom contributed by indigenous people.
• Capacity – get more involvement by improving capacity of TOs and develop resources in formats that are meaningful to TOs.
• Capability – foster skills in design, research, policy, planning, implementation and assessment.
• Adaptive Management – adopt adaptive principles to take advantage of opportunities

They talked the audience through a dot painting by Conway and others which they said was a Traditional Owner infographic illustrating the question, the answer and the process of implementing the answer.