Wayfinders Circle 2022 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 26
SELECTED INVESTMENTS
Warddeken
Land Management
AUSTRALIA
The Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area is part
of Arnhem Land, a vast Indigenous territory over twice
the size of Switzerland in northern Australia, and home
to Indigenous cultures dating back over 65,000 years.
The Nawarddeken are the traditional owners of
Warddeken, and make up 36 clan groups of the Bininj
Kunwok language group. In 2009, they created the
Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area, including
1,394,951 hectares of spectacular stone and gorge on
the West Arnhem Plateau, immediately east of Kakadu
National Park. The plateau is home to numerous
threatened species, and has great cultural signiûcance
as thousands of rock art sites tell stories and record the
way Indigenous Peoples lived tens of thousands of
years ago4these lands contain some of the richest
density of rock art galleries in the world.
The Aboriginal peoples of Warddeken use ceremonies
and kinship relations to govern how they live, which is
interwoven into the traditional management of the
Warddeken territory. The Warddeken Indigenous
Protected Area is managed by its traditional owners with
the support of Warddeken Land Management Limited,
a not-for-proût company founded in 2007. It does not
speak for the traditional owners, nor does it make
decisions for them, but rather it manages the land
according to their guidance. Representatives of the 36
clans sit on its Board of Directors, and it is responsible
for the governance, strategic direction, and the operations of the ranger program. It employs up to 130
Indigenous rangers a year on a casual basis. Rangers
work on ûre management and carbon abatement, which
plays a signiûcant cultural and economic role; weed and
feral animal control, rock art conservation, education,
and cultural heritage management. Passing traditional
ecological knowledge down to younger generations is a
key role, since rangers act as role models in their communities. Having an Indigenous Protected Area means the
Aboriginal landowners develop their own partnerships,
and determine their own priorities and outcomes, and it
means they remain the primary managers of their country.
One Warddeken program supported by the Wayûnders
Circle is the Mayh (Species) Recovery project, developed
to address catastrophic and ongoing mammal declines
across northern Australia. The Project encompasses a
long-term monitoring program (the Mayh Monitoring
Network) aimed at speciûc species of concern, which
over the last year includes work to further understand the
density of the two djabbo (Northern Quoll) populations
recorded within the area. The ûeld season began with the
camera deployments, monitoring of equipment, an initial
scan of the data to determine presence/absence of feral
predators and quolls, and later processing the images.
One of the goals of the program was to improve
engagement and time spent on country for rangers
and Traditional Owners whose country is in the karrikad (north) ward of the Warddeken Indigenous
Protected Area. Wurdurd (children) were also part of
the camp, and helped by making peanut butter, honey,
and oat bait balls for the camera stations. The long
camp meant there was plenty of time for cultural
activities, with wurdurd learning to make ûshing spears,
and collect and dye pandanus for weaving. This work
required extensive GPS navigation and capacity
building in the use of technologies and contributed to
ûre planning, including the Arnhem Land Fire Abatement planning meeting in Maningrida.
WAY F I N D E R S C I R C L E
|
ANNUAL REPORT
|
2022
26