Traditional knowledge

Indigenous Protected Areas

Indigenous Protected Areas exemplify sustainable development because they:

recognise, respect and retain traditional knowledge and cultural practices
model the combination of traditional knowledge and cultural practices with Western science to empower communities to create sustainable ecosystems.

Read about these four IPA case studies.

Warul Kawa Island IPA

Read this summary² and follow the link to the fact sheet to identify the threats to the conservation of sustainable ecosystems on Warul Kawa Island and management strategies to overcome those threats.

Research more about the communities³ of the Torres Strait Islands. The National Environmental Research Program has a number of programs⁴ in which Western science is being used to understand and support conservation and management of sustainable ecosystems in Torres Strait.

Uunguu IPA

Uunguu⁵ is a large IPA containing significant Aboriginal rock art on the remote but spectacular northern Kimberly coast.

The Yawuru people live south of Uunguu, near Broome. Their seasonal calendar⁶ has seven seasons. Read about how it influences daily activities.

Tyrendarra and Lake Condah IPA

Tyrendarra⁷ and Lake Condah⁸ IPAs are closely associated areas containing ancient ruins and evidence of aquaculture.

Nearby in the Grampians National Park are the Brambuk homelands⁹. Many of its Aboriginal inhabitants retreated to Lake Condah after contact with European settlers. Learn about the six seasons described in the Brambuk seasonal calendar¹⁰ and how they impact on daily activities.

Warddeben and Djelk IPAs

Arnhem Land has two contrasting IPAs: Warddekken¹¹, the dissected sandstone plateau of western Arnhem Land and Djelk¹², coastal Arnhem Land.

Identify conservation issues and strategies to achieve more sustainable ecosystems in these areas.

To the south-east, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Yanyuwa seasonal calendar¹³ describes five seasons.

Other resources

IPA culture and benefits

¹⁶

Miriwoong seasonal calendar

The Syllabus Bites: Caring for Country¹⁷ resource has links to many resources that describe traditional knowledge and cultural practices that support sustainable ecosystem management.

See how traditional knowledge translates into cultural practices by watching the video at the bottom of the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring website¹⁸. Here, the Miriwoong people from near Kununurra developed a calendar from their observations of plants and animals and used this to plan food gathering activities.

Traditional knowledge

Indigenous Protected Areas

IPA culture and benefits

Miriwoong seasonal calendar

Links