Case Study 2.1

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Case study 2.1: Indigenous traditional knowledge (p. 37)

Legal:           
For an international perspective see the website of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with a section devoted to Indigenous and Local Communities: http://www.cbd.int/ (including available for download Pachamama: A traditional knowledge newsletter of the Convention for Biological Diversity)

For a prominent example of Indigenous environmental management, see the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project, involving traditional Indigenous landowners in the prevention of bushfires and the protection of the environment.  Information on this, and other agreements with Indigenous landowners, is available the website of the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project (ATNS): http://www.atns.net.au/.  See also Marcia Langton et al (eds), Settling with Indigenous People: Modern Treaty and Agreement-Making (2006).  See also Michael Davis, ‘Indigenous Rights in Traditional Knowledge and Biological Diversity: Approaches to Protection’ (1999) 4(4) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 1.

Policy:
For a government perspective see the website of the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA), which has a section devoted to the role of Indigenous People in caring for their country: http://www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/index.html.

For further information on the issue of Indigenous biodiversity rights, see Michael Davis, Biological Diversity and Indigenous Knowledge, Research Paper No. 17, Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1998, available from the ‘Publications’ section of the website of the Australian Parliament: www.aph.gov.au.


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