Traditional knowledge and western science have come together to develop Australia’s first Indigenous-led climate adaptation plan for a World Heritage Area.
The K’gari Climate Change Adaptation Plan was celebrated today by the Butchulla Community and identifies how climate change might impact K’gari and how cultural knowledge can be applied to proactively manage and mitigate the risks.
The plan is the result of a partnership between the Butchulla people, custodians of K’gari, the Australian Government’s NESP (National Environmental Science Program) Climate Systems Hub and the Queensland Government Department of Environment, Science and Innovation’s World Heritage Team.
The K’gari Climate Adaptation Plan is a pilot project that could guide similar responses to the risks of climate change in other World Heritage Areas under Traditional Ownership.
Development of the plan included adapting the process outlined in the Australian government’s Climate Change Toolkit for World Heritage Properties in Australia, to be an Indigenous-driven process focused on cultural governance and engagement.
K’gari is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the southeastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, acknowledged for its outstanding natural values.
The smoking ceremony at the Butchulla celebration.
Butchulla people are seeking to have K’gari recognised for their cultural values and the knowledge they bring to the management of Country. The Climate Adaptation Plan includes a data base of that knowledge.
Chantel Van Wamelen, the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC’s Ranger Coordinator, said the collaboration based on free, prior and informed consent gathered the knowledge of Butchulla Elders for the first time.
“We identified more than 350 cultural values through this project. It has been very powerful,” Ms Van Wamelen said.
“This process has been led by Traditional Owners and is groundbreaking. We hope it can be used in developing climate adaptation plans for other World Heritage Areas.”
Ms Van Wamelen said the climate adaptation plan was in response to the devastating 2019 bushfires.
One of the key actions identified in the plan is right way for fire management, to trial cultural burns as a way of avoiding devastating bushfires.
The plan also proposes ways to protect freshwater ecosystems by reducing visitation in the north of the island to manage the risk of introduced species as well as promoting use of eco-friendly products only on the island.
The lead of the Climate Adaptation Initiative for the Climate Systems Hub, University of Tasmania’s Associate Professor Sarah Boulter said the project delivered an adaptation plan that was meaningful to the island’s Traditional Owners, could inform future management tools and provided actionable, achievable outcomes.
“This project shows how an Indigenous-directed process and the integration of two knowledge systems − traditional and western – can work to develop shared solutions to climate change. It provides an approach that could be used by other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and their partners.”
Day-to-day management of K’gari is managed by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, with the Queensland Government also providing state-wide coordination of World Heritage matters, policy and strategic planning. The Queensland Government also coordinates the K’gari World Heritage Advisory Committee with representatives from Butchulla people, community and scientific experts to provide input into matters of importance to the management of the World Heritage area. Butchulla native title bodies have Butchulla ranger programs.
Read more about this collaborative work in our case study: Developing an Indigenous co-designed adaptation plan for K’gari World Heritage Area
And hear from Chantel and Sarah along with Butchulla and Woppaburra woman and environmental scientist Jade Gould and Toni Thwaites, senior Project Officer in the World Heritage Team in the Department of Environment, Science, and Innovation, in our April webinar.