AW Landscape Board: Our Plan and responding to the call for greater indigenous engagement

At the AW Landscape Board's two-day meeting in February the newly drafted Alinytjara Wiluṟara Landscape Plan was approved for review by a targeted audience to gain feedback on its content. The final version will incorporate feedback and after approval by the Board and Minister for Environment and Water will be released in early July 2021.

Amongst the many topics discussed that align with the Board's vision of "a healthy and valued region, managed responsibly now, for the future benefit of people and country" was the recent release of an action-oriented report by the CSIRO.

The 2021 Australia's Biological Future: Unlocking the next decade of resilience is an update of the 2014 publication Australia's Biosecurity Future: Preparing for future biological challenges.

Notably this updated report recognises the importance of improved Aboriginal engagement including: making biosecurity engagement with Indigenous communities a more systemic process; empowering Indigenous involvement in biosecurity through co-development of fit-for-purpose technology solutions and the creation of economic opportunities and; increasing Indigenous representation at senior decision-making levels.

The Board discussed how it could better support Australia's biosecurity measures and opportunities for ranger support locally.

The Board also noted that the Australian Government is currently negotiating the Global Diversity Framework (GDF) under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and is seeking advice as to how it can best engage with Aboriginal communities. The Board will invite an appropriate Australian Government representative to speak with them at their earliest opportunity.