354 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
observed to be declining. During an early planning workshop, the northern
bettong was identified by one of WWF’s Indigenous partners as culturally
significant, featuring in a local dreaming story, giving greater justification and
motivation for Traditional Owners and Rangers from that group to be active in the
project. Indeed, this group has now secured funding for their own field-based
surveys beyond the original WWF project.
‘The monitoring of any threatened species is very important for Traditional
Owners and Rangers because they are a part of our ancestral stories for a lot
of our threatened species, in particular the northern bettongs. But all
threatened species play a major role in the environment as each one has its
own place in the ecosystem.’ Neil Leo, Girringun Rangers.In other cases, WWF’s target species have not directly aligned with the
priorities of local communities and thus the Rangers’ work plan. Two-way dialogue
during development and planning is essential for promoting a shared
understanding about, and respect for, these differing priorities and can enable
incorporation of both into projects. For instance, a field trip surveying for juwulya
(Nyarinyin name for nabarlek) (WWF-Australia 2016) also dedicated time for
Rangers and Traditional Owners to visit cultural sites, and collected data on other
cultural priority species including northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus.
Respect for culture and intellectual property
Successful monitoring and environmental programs that have integrated and
respected both Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western science can achieve
greater outcomes (McGregor et al. 2010). In the rock-wallaby project, elders shared
knowledge about Country, including historical and contemporary f lora and fauna,
long-term accounts of fire regime changes, and information on accessing areas
which improved survey design and streamlined implementation.
Indigenous people have fundamental rights to control, maintain and protect
their Traditional Knowledge (Australian Human Rights Commission 2007). It is
important to discuss intellectual property openly with Traditional Owner groups
to ensure its appropriate use with consent and acknowledgement. Research
agreements are often signed at the beginning of WWF’s partnerships, which
outline clearly how information gathered or generated can be used. It is important
to be sensitive that, while there are some individuals or groups with vast amounts
of Traditional Knowledge that they would like to share, others may prefer to not
share the information or, in many cases, outside historic inf luences have disrupted
knowledge transfer between generations and knowledge may be lost (Hoffmann et
al. 2012). Cultural activities (e.g. funerals or ceremonies) can inf luence work on
country. Respect for cultural priorities, and f lexibility with timetables, survey
locations and methods are key to successful projects.