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https://theconversation.com/bunyip-birds-and-brolgas-how-can-we-better-protect-species-important-to-indigenous-people-236801>
"Kamilaroi Country lies in far northwest New South Wales, past Tamworth and
crossing over the Queensland border. Here, the bunyip bird (Australasian
bittern,
Botaurus poiciloptilus), and the brolga (
Grus rubicunda or
burraalga in Kamilaroi) have been part of life, lore, spirit, dance and
culture with Country for thousands of generations.
In this Country, these two species are now rare. Kamilaroi people want to turn
this around. But to do that, we come up against a gap between Western
conservation laws and culturally significant species/entities.
Under Australia’s conservation laws, a species is considered threatened when
its numbers fall so low, or its distribution shrinks so much, it might not
recover. But the threatened species legal protections – and any recovery
funding it provides – are focused on the Western approach of countable nature,
not the Indigenous focus on nature-with-culture.
We are not splitting hairs. The difference is momentous, as we document in
recent research. It determines whose environmental research and management is
considered legitimate and resourced, and the terms on which knowledge is shared
and exchanged.
Understanding this helps find common ground between ecological and Indigenous
priorities. It will also be crucial to the now-delayed major overhaul of
Australia’s nature laws."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
