First Indigenous Protected Area on Cape York will protect rivers - 12/06/08

The day of the event, 4th June, falls between Mabo Day and World Environment Day - bringing to mind their themes of traditional ownership and rights to homelands, and the global cause of conservation.

The Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers Indigenous Protected Area is Australia’s 25th Indigenous Protected Area (IPA).

IPAs, an Australian innovation, are protected areas voluntarily declared by Traditional Owners on their homelands. They meet international standards for nature conservation and form part of the National Reserve System. Nearly 70% of the area added to the reserve system over the last decade has been through the creation of IPAs.

They are a success story for the environment and for Indigenous Australians, and are important to developing a social and economic future for remote communities.

A visionary achievement

The Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers IPA is a visionary achievement. Kaanju people have strived to build a sustainable future, based on working for country since returning to their traditional homelands nearly 20 years ago.

The IPA encompasses 197,500 hectares of Aboriginal freehold land. It’s part of an area of nearly one million hectares of tropical environments within the traditional boundaries of the Northern Kaanju homelands on the upper Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers.

The Northern Kaanju homelands are a mix of wet forest and sand ridge country. They require active management to control weeds and feral animals, and maintenance of traditional fire regimes.

The area is diverse. It includes open savannah in the West, and upland tropical and sub-tropical rainforests along the East. In between are riverine environments, and an extensive lagoon system centred on the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers, Its rich biodiversity includes rare and endangered fauna like the Spotted Cuscus, Palm Cockatoo and Freshwater Sawfish.

The IPA is managed under a plan developed by Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation, a Kaanju traditional owner organisation. Their conservation initiatives are improving biodiversity while creating jobs, providing training, building capacity and sustainable business opportunities.

Inspiring model of conservation and development

Chuulangun is an inspiring model of conservation and development in Northern Australia, which protects natural and cultural values on Aboriginal lands and generates sustainable livelihoods on Country. It has laid the ground for conservation outcomes of national and international significance.

Chuulangun is engaged with the Queensland and Commonwealth governments on wild river nominations for the Wenlock and Pascoe rivers – areas of international conservation significance that could form part of a Cape York World Heritage nomination. Initiatives include state and federal ranger programs (with 20 rangers employed over the next five years), and Caring for Country natural resource management. Chuulangun also works in cooperation with a range of organisations in land management training, botanical and pharmacological research, eco-tourism, environmental surveys and advocacy.

The Wilderness Society partners with Chuulangun through a Cooperation Agreement in support of environmental protection and homelands development.

Protecting the nature of the North

Together we are working to promote a leading edge approach to conservation in Northern Australia. This requires:

• Traditional Owners’ occupancy, and knowledge of their homelands;

• active management of the ecology of extensive, high-conservation-value landscapes; and

• a ‘conservation economy’ approach to underpin sustainable livelihoods for people on Country.