Almost five hundred ecologists are meeting in Darwin this week for the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) annual conference. Academics, practitioners, traditional owners and policymakers will meet to discuss their latest research and how it can be applied to the environmental challenges facing us.

“The ESA conference brings together the depth and diversity of the Australian ecological community,” said ESA President Dr Pep Turner.

“This conference is a pillar of the Australian ecological calendar, not only to see colleagues but to share the exciting and important work that we are doing. I look forward to listening to, connecting with, and learning from people who have deep knowledge in caring for country.”

This year, the conference coincides with NAIDOC Week. Fittingly, there will be an unprecedented number of symposia focused on First Nations people, including the fourteenth annual Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Symposium. The session will showcase Indigenous peoples’ biocultural knowledge, research and projects and the central role that they play in managing healthy, long-term ecosystems. Indigenous peoples represent less than five per cent of the global population but manage about 40 per cent of intact tropical primary forests. These lands cover some of the most remote and biodiverse regions on Earth.

“The role of First Nations Australians in leading the management of Country and its abundance of natural resources has been firmly recognised in recent times,” said Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, chair of the ESA Indigenous Engagement Working Group and Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science at Curtin University.

“Many initiatives are expanding in number and extent, including jointly managed protected areas, Ranger Programs and biocultural mapping to inform land management decision-making.”

However, current education and training pipelines for First Nations students go largely unfilled. A second symposium, “Building Cross-cultural Futures Through Healing Country” aims to examine this and discuss how education and training institutions can be better structured to support First Nations students.

ESA 2023 will also provide space for First Nations people to share experiences and stories about their work, shifting the focus from results and project outcomes.  It is hoped that this format will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who participate in conservation activities to share their experiences in a way that offers guidance for future practices to improve.

In honour of the critical work that Indigenous practitioners undertake, and to commemorate NAIDOC Week, the conference will also be hosting an Indigenous ecological knowledge photography exhibition. Images in this exhibition will tell the stories of individuals or programs continuing, reviving and protecting the ecological practices and knowledge held by First Nations people for millennia. The exhibition has been replicated online for audiences unable to make it to the conference in person.