How can we better protect species important to indigenous people?

The Kamilaroi Country lies in the far north-west of New South Wales, beyond Tamworth and crossing the Queensland border. Here the bunyip bird (Australian bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus) and brolg (Grus rubicunda Or burraalga in Kamilaroi) have been part of the life, tradition, spirit, dance and culture of this country for thousands of generations.

In this country these two species are now rare. The Kamilaroi people want to reverse this. But to do this we run into a gap between Western conservation laws and culturally significant species/entities.

Under Australian conservation laws, a species is considered threatened when its numbers decline so low or its range is reduced so much that it may not recover. However, legal protections for threatened species – and any recovery funding they provide – focus on Western approaches to quantifying nature, rather than the indigenous focus on nature with culture.

We are not nitpicking. The difference is significant, as we document in recent research. It determines whose research and environmental management is considered legitimate and resourceful, and the terms under which knowledge is shared and exchanged.

Understanding this helps find common ground between ecological and Indigenous priorities. It will also be key to the currently delayed overhaul of Australia’s nature laws.

Brolgas in the wetlands of Victoria.
Birdsaspoetry/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Endangered species in the country

In order for a species to be declared threatened under federal and New South Wales law, two findings must be made.

The first issue is how many animals or plants of a given species still survive in their natural habitat and how consistent this is over generations.

The second issue is how widespread a species is compared to the past and how much habitat is left.

This formula – abundance plus distribution – determines whether a species is in decline and requires urgent attention.

Within the Kamilaroi Shire lies the Gwydir Wetlands, a sacred site where brolga and bunyip birds once flourished.

Brolgas are known for their elaborate courtship dances, and the embodiment of their spirit is an important indigenous dance. With their long legs and necks, Brolgas are the largest waterfowl on the continent. However, their presence has declined rapidly in southern Australia. Brolgas are now seen less frequently in the Kamilaroi wetlands.

It is also less common to see or hear well-hidden bunyip bird. The Kamilaroi believe that the bittern’s loud cry signals the presence of a bunyip, a creature from ancient times whose songs and stories keep people away from sacred watering holes.

Waterfowl gather in their thousands at the Gwydir Wetlands. These wetlands are formed where the Gwydir River flows into an inland valley.
Jor/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Buruuugu (Dream) stories passed down from the old people connect these birds to the Kamilaroi people and freshwater life, encompassing culture, knowledge, language, dance, meaning and existence.

The brolga is listed as vulnerable in New South Wales and the bunyip is endangered. Both species have been found or are predicted to be present in regions near Kamilaroi Country.

Due to their proximity to these species, it is more difficult for the Kamilaroi people to access state funding, resources and protection for these species.

The problem is more serious when species/entities of cultural significance are generally abundant but limited in scope. Species important to indigenous peoples may be lost entirely from the country to which they belong, yet government programs offer very few conservation options or resources.

When the Gywdir River bursts its banks, floodwaters refill the Gywdir Wetlands near Moree.
Bradley Mogridge, Provided by author (no reuse)

When one plus one doesn’t equal two

There is an increasing openness among ecologists, governments, and Western land managers to foreground and incorporate Indigenous knowledge in decision-making, and Indigenous people are ready and waiting. This respectful exchange of knowledge is often called two-way learning.

It is common to think of these different sets of values as something added together: ecological values plus indigenous values equal better protection. Sometimes, species at risk reports include a section on Aboriginal cultural values. And indigenous concern for country is seen as a key tool in the toolbox for recovering endangered species.

But Kamilaroi knowledge is not just a tool for management. And these species are not separate from the people who care for them. For Kamilaroi, the brolga and the bunyip are culture and kinship. It is not nature plus culture, two categories side by side, but nature plus culture – a transformation, not an addition.

Typically, these two categories are divided for research and management purposes, as in the natural and social sciences. But Country intertwines nature and culture and focuses on which relationships are important and why. From this perspective, ecological species and habitats are incorporated into Country, which also includes its people.

Bunyip bird at rest: The Australian Bittern is hard to see – but unmistakable once you hear it.
Imogen Warren/Shutterstock

So what do we suggest?

Our current environmental policies seek ways for indigenous peoples to fit into biodiversity conservation approaches. Instead, we need to find conservation measures and resources to support indigenous knowledge and relationships with country. The significant increase in indigenous protected areas is a start, as these large areas of land and sea are managed by indigenous groups and rangers.

But we need our environmental laws, reporting frameworks and resource levels to include support for indigenous governments in their systems. These issues extend far beyond the boundaries of protected areas.

This could mean writing laws that recognize and invest in culturally significant species under Indigenous leadership. This could mean programs that support Indigenous people in setting their own priorities and measures of success for country and culture, and setting the terms of how knowledge about country is used and shared.

This could mean changing the way we govern, so that conservation is increasingly taken over by Indigenous people, who have a voice and responsibility for the country – the complex relationships between the brolga and bunyip birds and the Kamilaroi people – are front and centre, not back.

When migrating brolga come to the Gwydir wetlands to perform their leaping, diving dance to nest and mate, you get the ecological result: a vulnerable species breeds. But you can also see how and why the world’s oldest living culture keeps brolga close as kin.

The order of authorship when citing this article is: Moggridge, Weir, Morgain, and Moon.