Traditional owners agree to Ngalurrtju partnership with Australian Wildlife Conservancy
/ By Saskia MabinTraditional owners of the Ngalurrtju Aboriginal Land Trust have signed a lease agreement to collaboratively protect more than 300,000ha of land in remote north-west Central Australia.
Key points:
- Traditional owners, the Central Land Council and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy will work together to protect a large land trust at the edge of the Tanami Desert
- The area under the Ngalurrtju agreement adjoins the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, creating almost 600,000ha under conservation management
- The agreement includes funding for Indigenous ranger programs to create jobs on country
The Ngalurrtju partnership includes Warlpiri, Anmatyerr and Luritja-speaking traditional owners.
Their agreement with the Central Land Council and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy intends to promote mutual learning through sharing Aboriginal cultural knowledge, conservation land management techniques and scientific research methods.
"This land means a lot to me because I used to come to visit my grandfather on this country since the 1980s and I grew up around here," CLC delegate Terence Abbott said.
The agreement has been about a decade in the making and it ensures traditional owners retain ownership of the land.
Wildlife Conservancy chief executive Tim Allard said it was a special for his organisation to be working with Indigenous communities and rangers to care for country.
He said all traditional owner groups would be represented on a steering committee that would advise the conservancy.
Programs across vast areas
The new land trust at the edge of the Tanami Desert adjoins the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, which the AWC has managed for conservation for more than two decades.
Now almost 600,000 hectares of land will be protected.
"That's the scale where you can put the entire cities of Sydney and Melbourne in there and still have room left over," Mr Allard said.
Successful conservation programs at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary have included implementing fire management and feral animal control programs, and reintroducing threatened species including mala and woylies to the area.
Employment opportunities
The Ngalurrtju partnership includes an employment package of about $170,000 per year to train and employ Indigenous people from nearby communities as rangers.
"I would like to see my families come back to their own country and start working instead of coming to Alice Springs or going to jail," Mr Abbott said.
Karrinyarra traditional owner Nigel Andy said he would work alongside young people.
"I'll be showing them sacred sites … keeping it a beautiful place," he said.
Central Land Council executive manager of governance and policy Francine McCarthy said early priorities would be mapping threatened and culturally important plant and animal species and building an inventory.
Her organisation helped traditional owners negotiate the lease agreement.
"There's a lot of threatened species in this area — there are also species that no longer are here so there are opportunities to have those species reintroduced," Ms McCarthy said.
The lease agreement will be reviewed in five years.