Dr Dermot SmythResearch Institute for the Environment and
Livelihoods Charles Darwin University
Niche Messages1. What is a propitious niche?
• How does it apply to Caring for Country?
2. Evolution of the Caring for Country niche
3. Breaking Barriers: Re-thinking Caring for Country as “Cultural
Selection”
Peter Ucko Neville Bonner
Encountering the “Propitious Niche”“Closing The Gap” Workshop
late 1970s
What is a Propitious Niche?
“Propitious”Attended by favourable circumstances
“Niche”A position particularly adapted to its
occupant(and vice versa)
Propitious niches in America
IroquoisSteel workers In New York Irish Police in
New YorkAfrican American soldiers
Indigenous propitious niches in Australia
What makes a niche propitious?Applies existing skills, knowledge or interests
Valued by minority group and wider society
Limited competition from wider society
Entry point into wider employment opportunitiesAn opportunity pathwayNot a limited destiny
What is Caring for Country?
Fire management Weed control Feral animal control
Satellite trackingResearch
Cultural heritage management
Caring for Country as a propitious niche• Applies inherent skills and cultural knowledge
• Highly valued by Indigenous communities
• Highly valued by wider society
• Limited competition from wider society
• Potential for subsequent employment opportunities
Evolution of Caring for Country Niche
Based on ancient and enduring responsibility for country
Evolution of Caring for Country Niche
Land Rights – 1976 onwards
Evolution of Caring for Country Niche
Co-management of national parks from 1979 onwards
Evolution of Caring for Country Niche
Palm Island Ranger Service 1983
Kowanyama – Western Cape York1989 Ranger employed1990 Land & Natural Resource Management OfficeIndependent cultural evolution?
Colin Lawrence
Cape York Community Rangers from early ‘90sSupported by ATSIC and Cairns TAFE CollegeWhere were the research institutions?
Study tour of Northern Territoryearly 1990s
Coastal Ranger Groups across northern Australia www.nailsma.org.au/projects/srm
Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) from 1998Voluntary protected areas
Declared by Traditional Owners
Recognised nationally and internationally
Supported by IPA Program and other partners
Initially based on Indigenous tenure
Increasingly based on “country” (land and sea)Comprise over 40% of Australia’s protected area
estate
Working on Country Program
From 2008Funding for Indigenous Ranger employmentCurrently over 630 Ranger employedOver $320 million for 5 years from 2013Commitment to fund 730 Rangers by 2015
Ongoing Indigenous Drivers
Traditional OwnersCommunity CouncilsLand Councils and other regional
organisationsTorres Strait Regional AuthorityNorth Australian Indigenous Land and Sea
Management Alliance (NAILSMA)Environment Minister’s
Indigenous Advisory Committee
Other investors
Fee-for-Service contractsConservation NGOsPhilanthropicsResearch institutions
The Caring for Country ‘Industry’ today60 Indigenous Protected Areas
Over 1,000 Indigenous rangers and other Caring for Country workers employed
Total investment $100 million per year?
Remote Community Case Study
Indigenous-owned resort
LocalIndigenous
employment:
Multi-national mine
LocalIndigenous
employment:
Indigenous Land and Sea Management
Group
Local Indigenous
employment:
0% 5% 90%
Benefits of Caring for CountryEmployment
Education and Training
Enhanced self esteem, health and wellbeing
Contribution to biodiversity conservation
Contribution to cultural maintenance
Reconciliation and partnership building
Policy & Research ImplicationsOngoing support for locally driven, well
coordinated, purposeful Caring for Country programs
Support for other propitious nichesWhat are they?Where are they?Why are they propitious?
Contribution to understanding “The Gap”?Indigenous RangersNon-Indigenous Coordinators
What’s Going On?
Country Tenure
IndigenousKnowledge
Western Science
HolisticLand/SeaManagement
SeparateLand/SeaManagement
Caring for Country Contemporary value Selective advantage
Encountering Cultural Selection
Agner Fog “Cultural Selection”
Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999
2009
What is Cultural Selection?Analogous to Natural SelectionNot related to Social Darwinism!
“Memes” and “Meme complexes” TransmittedChange (mutate)Selectively advantageousSelectively disadvantageous
Cultural adaptation and evolution
How does this help?
A framework for understanding cultural change?
Incentive to seek selective advantages for cultural values?
Hasten supportive policy development and research?
Tenure-based IPA
(ExclusiveTenureunlikely)
Aboriginal land
National Park
ForestReserve
MarinePark
Private Land
IPA
Land Sea
Land Sea
Country-based IPA
(Exclusivetenureunlikely)
Aboriginal land
National Park
ForestReserve
MarinePark
Private Land
Land Sea
Land Sea
Country-based IPA
Land Sea
Country-based IPAIntegrated land and sea country IPA