Emilie Ens, Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University

The international Aichi Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and IPBES Indigenous and local knowledge operating principles as well as the national Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 all mandate inclusion of Indigenous people and knowledge in ecology and conservation. However how can we actually achieve this on the ground?

Like many Australians, I received a public school education that was devoid of teachings about Australia’s rich and diverse Aboriginal history. Seemingly by chance and due to an underlying curiosity, during my undergraduate degree in Ecology at UNSW, I undertook two Australian Indigenous Studies units run by Aunty Barb Nicholson as a compulsory requirement to undertake units outside students’ main course of study.

Also by chance, my PhD (in ecology at the University of Wollongong) took me to Booderee National Park where I studied Bitou Bush invasion; however, I also came to experience Aboriginal involvement in National Park management and made friends with some Traditional Owners who were also studying at the University of Wollongong. These early serendipitous experiences laid the foundation for the decade of work I have now done in close collaboration with many Aboriginal people and communities across Australia. My Aboriginal colleagues would say these experiences happened for a reason… they weren’t by chance.

Since receiving my PhD in 2008, I have co-developed many cross-cultural ecology research projects around wetland, biodiversity and bio-cultural conservation in partnership with Aboriginal Elders, Rangers, schools and communities from around Australia. A core outcome of this work has always been a collective desire to raise awareness of the benefits, challenges and importance of collaborative and cross-cultural ecological and environmental management in Australia. By cross-cultural we mean incorporating both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, doing and communicating. We have won several awards including the 2014 Banksia Award for Indigenous Leadership in Sustainability and the 2017 Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science.

As a result of this work, other academic, government staff, consultants, students and so forth often approach me and express their desire to also work with Indigenous people and learn more about Indigenous knowledge. However, they tend to say that they have been unsuccessful or don’t know where to start. Here I provide some advice from my experiences, and assert the need for time, patience and resources to build strong partnerships with Indigenous knowledge custodians and Traditional Owners.

There is an increasing desire across academia, government agencies, staff and consultants to incorporate both Indigenous and Western methods and knowledge to managing Australia’s ecosystems. For example, Macquarie University is partnering with Indigenous rangers to conduct biodiversity surveys. Credit: Emilie Ens.

At the outset, non-Indigenous Australians need to recognise that we are following a long legacy of Aboriginal mistreatment in Australia, including from researchers and governments. Many Aboriginal people still feel the pain and discrimination of past and indeed current events. Any contact with Indigenous knowledge custodians and Traditional Owners must begin with a sincere apology for past wrong doings and a genuine desire to do things differently. This requires a clear expression of your intent. Why do you want to engage Indigenous people, knowledge or Country? If you want to engage Indigenous people respectfully and create a meaningful working relationship, you must strive for mutual benefit and work with your Indigenous collaborator/s to identify what they want out of the partnership. How will your Indigenous colleagues benefit, from their perspective? Indigenous people must also be adequately paid for their time and knowledge.

The best collaborations are co-developed, which often requires Western scientists or non-Indigenous stakeholders to devolve the power we are so accustomed to when initiating projects. Social scientists describe this form of research or project delivery as participatory or collaborative action (research). There are numerous typologies of participation that one can read about to ascertain what level of stakeholder participation your project will have.

Perhaps the best advice is to approach the relevant Indigenous organisation or community and start the conversation. Have a yarn and take time to discuss ideas and issues around your desired project. Do your homework and find out about the organisation, mob, or person you want to work with. Don’t come in naïve but equally, don’t come in thinking you know everything, because we don’t! Read the work of researchers, government departments and other organisations that have long standing relationships with Aboriginal people and ask for their advice on how to make cross-cultural relationships and projects work. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies also has a wealth of information on Indigenous studies and preferred Indigenous methodologies.

As my long-time colleague and adopted abuji (grandmother) Mrs C W Daniels OAM (recently deceased) always said to me and her other disciples: the biggest word is Commitment. If you are committed to something it will commit to you. Don’t give up. She was a strong advocate of the Australian way—Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways coming together to better manage this precious Country we all live in and want future generations to enjoy. It’s time that we reconcile the wrongs of the past and start to respect and include the First Australians in Australian ecology and conservation… after all they created this landscape (e.g. through fire and species movement) and lived off it for more than 40,000 years with far less damage than Europeans have made over recent centuries.

Aboriginal culture and language encodes Australia’s ecological history. People are an integral part of ecology. It is a crying shame that we are letting the richness of Aboriginal culture, language and knowledge slip through our fingers because we don’t have enough time and money. We need to make time and find the resources to create more inclusive Australian ecological knowledge and management actions that serve to protect our highly diverse and linked biological and cultural (bio-cultural) heritage.

Contact:  ¤