Creating an ecologically sustainable northern Australia Dr Rosemary Hill Northern Australia Program Coordinator Australian Conservation Foundation

Overview _ Culture and nature: the importance of the north _ Consequences of our current direction _ Sustainability: nature and culture _ Charting true sustainability

What makes the north important globally? - nature and culture

Outstanding natural values _ rare, endemic, endangered animals - Gouldian finch, spotted cuscus, golden-backed tree rat _ wetlands of national and international significance _ the most extensive eucalpyt forests in the world _ complex island archipelagoes around the sunken Kimberley coastline

Relatively good condition _ most intact tropical savanna landscapes in the world _ less than 1% cleared in Cape York Peninsula and the Kimberleys _ Biodiversity Audit findings: _ health of nationally important wetlands generally good _ mostly near pristine estuaries in northern Australia

Slower rate of mammal attrition remember the highest mammal extinction rate in the world, accounting for a third of global extinctions

Centre of cultural diversity Part of WWF’s map of global ethnolinguistic groups low density population (around 0.1 people per km 2 cf 4 in southern Australia) Diversity of language, art, music, resources

Connections to country _ “country is living entity with a yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness, and a will towards life” _ places are travelled, known, described in song, dance, design, stories _ fire, season, resources _ “country of the heart”

Keeping country strong _ Indigenous land and cultural management agencies: Balkanu, NLC, KLC, Dhimurru, Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku… _ Resistance to industrialisation: the Mirrar people; Wuthathi people heroic struggles at Jabiluka and Shelburne

Consequences of our current direction

Northern Australia Forum eg. _ acknowledges “clean green and tropical” as a key competitive advantage but recommends: development of irrigated horticulture intensification of beef production mining and mineral production clearing for plantation forestry

Consequences for the land _ Declines in mammal numbers and granivorous birds….Why? broadscale clearing- most important - threatens specific ecosystems on CYP <1% clearing grazing, inappropriate fire regimes, feral animals and exotic weeds, water development (salinisation in the Ord) global climate change…. Gamba grass Grazing impact

Consequences for the people _ Australia-wide Indigenous peoples have the lowest economic status _ Kimberley: apprehension rate for young Indigenous 3 times that for non-Indig. _ Cape York: almost 25% of adults with signs of early kidney disease in one health check

Major development projects... Kakadu: no improvement throughout the 80s despite $ from mine, Park

Sustainability: nature and culture

Creating sustainability _ Passing onto future generations the same opportunities we enjoy _ Natural assets: environmentally appropriate development _ Cultural diversity, which is the basic fabric of human life: culturally appropriate development

Environmentally appropriate _ Underpinned by best ecological science _ Avoid where possible the impacts identified as most damaging: no broadscale clearing or major water impoundment/extraction _ Control those impacts that can’t be eliminated: fire regimes, weeds and feral animals _ Ecologically modern: renewables, efficient

Growth industries!  natural and cultural heritage-based tourism;  cultural industries (arts) - fastest growing in the world  land and water management - international education and training - knowledge industries  commercial farming of wildlife  rehabilitation of lands retired from grazing and extractive uses such as mining  renewable energy, efficient technologies.

Culturally appropriate _ Indigenous leadership _ NT Forum on Indigenous Econ. Devel.: _ good governance _ cultural industries (largest employer of Indigenous people in NT) _ tourism _ wildlife farming _ caring for country, carbon accumulation through fire management _ also interest in sustainable pastoralism and mining _ Synergies here!

Charting sustainability - or how to steer in a different direction?

Get real!..generate hope _ Don’t start in the opposite direction: recognise the north is marginal for pastoralism, agriculture and that large scale developments have not benefited broadly _ focus on nature and culture _ support, respect, recognise Indigenous leadership and communities _ protect our country - keep the trees, keep the rivers wild, listen to the curlew call at night _ base economy on nature and culture

Stimulate debate _ ACF/Rainforest CRC “Appropriate Economic Models Roundtable” _ Research support important – true partnerships between Indigenous knowledge and science _ Government policy/regulation/incentives also critical

Creating sustainability _ Places us at the forefront of the greatest questions of our time, achieving environmental protection and reconciliation with the First Nations peoples of our global community