Sustainable Northern Landscapes and the Nexus with Indigenous Health: Healthy Country, Healthy People

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:42:30 +0000

The Sustainable Northern Landscapes and the Nexus with Indigenous Health: Healthy People, Healthy Country project was undertaken at the behest of Traditional Owners in central Arnhemland in collaboration with a transdisciplinary team of medical, ecological and social researchers.

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Program Theme:

Indigenous Natural Resources Management

Research Type:

Research Project

Research Scale:

State

Legacy (KMS) Project ID:

NTU7

Host Organisation:

Northern Territory University

Researchers:

Stephen Garnett

David Bowman

Subjects

Subjects:

Landscapes

Biodiversity

Conservation

Landscape Management

Indigenous

Socio-Economic

Keywords:

Indigenous health

ICNRM

indigenous cultural

indigenous NRM

indigenous rangers

Project Information

Summary:

Outcomes:

he project concludes that a range of benefits may arise from Indigenous NCRM. These include improved environmental outcomes, health benefits, and other socio-cultural benefits. Indigenous NRM is a significant initiative in remote areas of northern Australia requiring further support and investment.

Without active management by Indigenous people, northern landscapes will continue to degrade.
Threatening processes include poor fire management and the impacts of exotic plants and animals.
Indigenous people have demonstrated their determination to be active in the landscape. One of the most powerful recent expressions of that determination is the Indigenous ranger movement.
Indigenous participants involved in active management of natural and cultural resources have better physical health than their counterparts who have been less involved.
Associated health outcomes include major reductions in risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes that not only severely disrupt Indigenous society but also require large public expenditure for treatment.
The broader Australian society benefits from increased activity of Indigenous people in northern landscapes, by mitigating adverse environmental outcomes and potentially reducing public health outlays.
The signals are sufficiently strong to warrant immediate and recurring investments to support Indigenous resource managers.

National policy analysis is required to:

Ensure that investments of this sort are not undermined by contradictory Indigenous policy in such areas as support for outstations, remote housing, education and definitions of legitimate work.
Review current investments to ensure that their scale is congruent with the seriousness of both the environmental and human problems confronted in remote and regional north Australia, with and the anticipated benefits of this integrated approach.
Develop governance procedures so that investment success is measured in terms of cultural and natural resource management outcomes, and health outcomes, and not simply process-related targets.

More information

Professor Stephen Garnett

School for Environmental Research
Charles Darwin University Darwin NT Australia 0909
Phone: +61 8 8946 7115
Email: stephen.garnett@cdu.edu.au
Website: www.cdu.edu.au

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Location

State & NRM Region:

Northern Territory

Locations:

Arnhem Land

Resources

External Links:

Healthy country, healthy people (EurekAlert! 7 May 2007)

All in indigenous cultural

Sustainable Northern Landscapes and the Nexus with Indigenous Health: Healthy Country, Healthy People

More information