The widespread rise of a modern conservation ethic has seen national parks, archaeological parks,... more The widespread rise of a modern conservation ethic has seen national parks, archaeological parks, nature reserves and a host of other forms of protected area (PA) spread to almost every corner of the globe. As a body of thought and practice that was developed initially in western industrialised societies, the spread of modern, state initiated conservation has been a spectacular success as far as increasing the total area of protected land and waters is concerned, but it has not always been a straightforward process as far as the on ground work of managing landscapes for conservation is concerned. In particular, the ideal of state run PAs preserving pristine natural areas has proven difficult to reconcile with on the ground realities in developing countries and on Indigenous lands, where sometimes tens of thousands of people will live in and depend on protected landscapes for economic and cultural reasons. 30 years after participatory planning methods and co-management emerged, where are we up to with cross-cultural collaborations in conservation? An initial point to be made is that interactions between western oriented conservationists and local, culturally distinct communities have been sustained to the extent that at times PAs are not only the subject of intercultural dialogue, but have become the products of intercultural engagement. PAs in some cases have moved beyond a standoff between western and non-western views of nature, culture and conservation, and are now in some important ways bi-cultural entities. What are the implications of this process for on-ground conservation work? Presenting case material from Australia and Timor-Leste, I{u2019}ll focus on how the growth of the conservation estate in Australia has been fuelled in part by the growth in Indigenous owned land, and secondly on how traditional institutions in Timor-Leste have played a key role in facilitating social and political change in the past. Both these cases support the argument that developing {u2018}bi-cultural{u2019} PAs can broker all [...]
In the recent Boyer Lectures, Prof. Marcia Langton argued that mining is providing Indigenous com... more In the recent Boyer Lectures, Prof. Marcia Langton argued that mining is providing Indigenous communities with an opportunity to move out of the economic margins and grow into a new middle class of wealth and opportunity. But is mining the only way forward for Indigenous communities seeking to develop economically sustainable futures? And are supporters of conservation committing an act of racism, as she suggests?
Since the end of the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste in 1999, a significant revival of local... more Since the end of the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste in 1999, a significant revival of local cultures and identities in public life has been occurring. In this article I discuss aspects of identity and culture among Fataluku-speaking people in relation to the recent establishment of the Nino Conis Santana National Park over much of their homeland. Today Fataluku cultural and historical stories provide a basis for their status as an autonomous and sovereign cultural group, as well as a legacy of intercultural negotiation and alliance that arguably reflects regional patterns of migration and social change over thousands of years. With the park's 15,000 residents continuing to rely on its forests and reefs for subsistence, recent restrictions on hunting have highlighted the need for increased local community support if the park is to achieve its conservation aims. I argue that long-standing traditions surrounding the negotiation of social and political change within Fataluku s...
Sea cucumber mariculture is an important emerging field of practice and applied research in the c... more Sea cucumber mariculture is an important emerging field of practice and applied research in the coastal tropics. This is due to the existing importance of tropical sea cucumber fisheries for wealth generation and poverty reduction, and the potential for mariculture to contribute to the longer term sustainability of these fisheries while generating benefits additional to those from wild caught sea cucumber. Understanding the optimal institutional arrangements for sea cucumber mariculture is an important area of focus in this field, with a variety of arrangements currently in place. This paper documents the establishment of a communal form of sea ranching in the Philippines, as a case study of community level institutional processes. It describes the background to establishment of the sea ranch in the community of Victory, challenges encountered and how these were managed, and the evolution of governance arrangements. In charting this process, we assess the impacts on livelihood outco...
The widespread rise of a modern conservation ethic has seen national parks, archaeological parks,... more The widespread rise of a modern conservation ethic has seen national parks, archaeological parks, nature reserves and a host of other forms of protected area (PA) spread to almost every corner of the globe. As a body of thought and practice that was developed initially in western industrialised societies, the spread of modern, state initiated conservation has been a spectacular success as far as increasing the total area of protected land and waters is concerned, but it has not always been a straightforward process as far as the on ground work of managing landscapes for conservation is concerned. In particular, the ideal of state run PAs preserving pristine natural areas has proven difficult to reconcile with on the ground realities in developing countries and on Indigenous lands, where sometimes tens of thousands of people will live in and depend on protected landscapes for economic and cultural reasons. 30 years after participatory planning methods and co-management emerged, where are we up to with cross-cultural collaborations in conservation? An initial point to be made is that interactions between western oriented conservationists and local, culturally distinct communities have been sustained to the extent that at times PAs are not only the subject of intercultural dialogue, but have become the products of intercultural engagement. PAs in some cases have moved beyond a standoff between western and non-western views of nature, culture and conservation, and are now in some important ways bi-cultural entities. What are the implications of this process for on-ground conservation work? Presenting case material from Australia and Timor-Leste, I{u2019}ll focus on how the growth of the conservation estate in Australia has been fuelled in part by the growth in Indigenous owned land, and secondly on how traditional institutions in Timor-Leste have played a key role in facilitating social and political change in the past. Both these cases support the argument that developing {u2018}bi-cultural{u2019} PAs can broker all [...]
In the recent Boyer Lectures, Prof. Marcia Langton argued that mining is providing Indigenous com... more In the recent Boyer Lectures, Prof. Marcia Langton argued that mining is providing Indigenous communities with an opportunity to move out of the economic margins and grow into a new middle class of wealth and opportunity. But is mining the only way forward for Indigenous communities seeking to develop economically sustainable futures? And are supporters of conservation committing an act of racism, as she suggests?
Since the end of the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste in 1999, a significant revival of local... more Since the end of the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste in 1999, a significant revival of local cultures and identities in public life has been occurring. In this article I discuss aspects of identity and culture among Fataluku-speaking people in relation to the recent establishment of the Nino Conis Santana National Park over much of their homeland. Today Fataluku cultural and historical stories provide a basis for their status as an autonomous and sovereign cultural group, as well as a legacy of intercultural negotiation and alliance that arguably reflects regional patterns of migration and social change over thousands of years. With the park's 15,000 residents continuing to rely on its forests and reefs for subsistence, recent restrictions on hunting have highlighted the need for increased local community support if the park is to achieve its conservation aims. I argue that long-standing traditions surrounding the negotiation of social and political change within Fataluku s...
Sea cucumber mariculture is an important emerging field of practice and applied research in the c... more Sea cucumber mariculture is an important emerging field of practice and applied research in the coastal tropics. This is due to the existing importance of tropical sea cucumber fisheries for wealth generation and poverty reduction, and the potential for mariculture to contribute to the longer term sustainability of these fisheries while generating benefits additional to those from wild caught sea cucumber. Understanding the optimal institutional arrangements for sea cucumber mariculture is an important area of focus in this field, with a variety of arrangements currently in place. This paper documents the establishment of a communal form of sea ranching in the Philippines, as a case study of community level institutional processes. It describes the background to establishment of the sea ranch in the community of Victory, challenges encountered and how these were managed, and the evolution of governance arrangements. In charting this process, we assess the impacts on livelihood outco...
Uploads
Papers