Course:CONS370/Projects/Forest fires in Australia: Indigenous communities spearheading the journey to resilient responses in the Anthropocene

Danger of Fires in Australia 2019

With climate changing rapidly in the current epoch of the anthropocene, fires in Australia and around the world are sparking more frequently. These fires have detrimental affects on ecosystems, habitats, and human lives due to the magnitude and duration. Indigenous communities in Australia have managed fires for centuries before the country was colonized by Britain. After colonization, fire management regimes shifted from Indigenous practices of prescribed burnings to western practices. Western fire management practices include the suppression of fire, which only leads to more intense fires and more damage to ecosystems and human settlements. Indigenous communities have knowledge of the land, passed down from generation to generation and have unique perspectives and solutions to environmental issues. They are the communities that are most vulnerable to rapid climate change and out of control fires. Switching back to an Indigenous fire management regime may reduce the frequency, magnitude, and duration of fires in Australia.

Description

Colonization of Australia

Australia was first sighted in 1768 when Captain James Cook was sent by the British Empire to find new land for the King. By 1770, Captain James Cook entered Botany Bay in Australia, not recognizing the land rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who occupied the land. Cook then claimed the land for the British Crown and declared Australia to be terra nullius; land that did not belong to anyone. In 1788, the First Fleet of British people arrived at Port Jackson in Sydney. From the inception, the British had detrimental effects on the populations of Indigenous Peoples of Australia. The British killed, incarcerated and brought diseases to the Aboriginal Peoples. The British continued to designate Aboriginals as wards of the State, removed them from their traditional lands, and restricted the movement of Aboriginal Peoples within Australia. It is estimated that at least 3/4 Aboriginals did not survive the effects of colonization.

Rope River Mission school in 1908

In the early 1900's, laws were made in each state of Australia, giving the government control over the lives of Aboriginal Peoples. This would determine where Aboriginals could live, be employed, and would designate Aboriginal children as wards of the state, which allowed the government to remove the children from their families without permission. From 1910 to 1970 Aboriginal children were taken from their families by the government and raised in white institutions known as mission schools. These children were known as the "Stolen Generations". Mission schools were established by the churches and were used to extirpate Aboriginal culture and language from the children. It was not until 1972 that Aboriginal Peoples had the right of self-determination under the government, which acknowledged the prior ownership of the country by Indigenous Peoples of Australia. (Share our pride)

Australia Today and Aboriginal Peoples

Today, Australia is one of the most diverse countries in the world. One in four people inhabiting Australia was born outside of the country and many others are first or second generation Australians. About 24 million people inhabit Australia today, 2.4% (640,000 people) being First Australians. The small percentage of the Aboriginal population in Australia shows the damaging effects colonization continues to have on Aboriginal Peoples of Australia. First Australians include the Aborigines and the Torres Strait Islander people who inhabited the country before colonization. Aborigines lived across the country and the Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Before colonization, there were over 500 unique clan groups or nations around the continent. Each nation had its own distinct culture, language, and beliefs. (Australia gov)

History of Aboriginal Peoples and Fire

Controlled burning of grass in Australia

As climate continues to change, there is a dramatic increase in frequency and magnitude of fires in Australia. Before the time of colonization, Aboriginal Peoples managed and used fires as a hunting aid, for warmth, cooking, food production, and as a way of communication. They used fire to “look after [the] country”, increasing biodiversity and protecting favoured resources and cultural sites. The western view of fire is that it causes destruction and therefore needs to be suppressed.

There is evidence that Aboriginal Peoples of Australia have been practicing fire management dating back 35,000 to 40,000 years ago. The shift from Aboriginal fire management regimes to European fire management regimes has created more frequent and destructive fires within the country of Australia. Currently, about 2.4% of Australia’s population is Aboriginal Peoples. With Aboriginal People still being a minuscule percentage of the population, involving them in creating new fire management practices in Australia may help in the reconciliation and will allow them to continue traditional practices pre-colonization. They will provide unique practices and knowledge of the land that can be resourceful to finding new solutions for fire management in Australia (Edwards, 2008)`

Tenure arrangements

Tenure arrangements. Describe the nature of the tenure: freehold or forest management agreement/arrangements, duration, etc.

In Australia, each jurisdiction (state or territory) controls its own system of tenure and is the authoritative source of land tenure. The Torrens Title is a system of registration of land ownership titles administered at the state and territorial level. It certifies and catalogues the ownership of all land parcels in Australia.

Land tenure is grouped into two general types: freehold land and non-freehold land. Freehold land is land that is not owned by the Crown, where title and ownership is granted to a private individual or entity (also known as private land). Freehold land is generally more of a complete form of land ownership, but owners still must abide by jurisdictional laws. Some jurisdictions in Australia have specific legislation which enables Aboriginal freehold land titles granted to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Communities. Non-freehold land is land owned by the Crown, either by the Commonwealth government or by state or territory government. It can also be referred to as Crown land or state land. This form of land tenure is designated for public interests such as production forestry, environmental protection, heritage protection, infrastructure, or recreation. Non-freehold land also includes national parks and state forests. Leasehold land is also included in non-freehold land when the government and an individual or entity enter into a contract over land ownership. Although the government remains the legal owner of the land, a lessee can be granted ownership and management of the land for a fixed term. Leasehold title permits the individual or entity exclusive occupancy land rights and use, but are subject to jurisdictional laws. Non-freehold land that is not leasehold land can be called public land. (development of national tenure)

There are currently six tenure classes listed under the National Forest Inventory in Australia, ranging from private, public, and unresolved tenure. Public tenure arrangements include multiple-use forests, nature conservation reserves, and other crown lands. Private tenure arrangements include leasehold forest Crown Land and private ownership of forests. Unresolved tenure includes any forests that are not named to be in the public or private ownership. It is forested areas with no official ownership. (department of agriculture). More than half of Australia’s forests are identified as Indigenous estates and about ¾ of forests in Queensland and the Northern Territory are Indigenous forests.

Administrative arrangements

Administrative arrangements. Describe the management authority and the reporting system.

There are two major forest certification bodies recognized internationally which are Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). PEFC and FSC recognizes regional and national standards of forest management by practicing sustainability.

Affected Stakeholders

Social actors (stakeholders, user groups) who are affected stakeholders, their main relevant objectives, and their relative power

Wildfires do not have boundaries or target a certain individual or group who has ownership of the land. Any community, government, individual or entity who has land ownership in Australia, will be an affected stakeholder when it comes to fires and fire management. Affected stakeholders are any groups of people, individuals, government, businesses that are affected by fires in Australia.

Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Australia was once governed by Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. When Britain colonized the country, they stole the power from the Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This makes Aboriginal Peoples and the Torres Strait Islander Peoples affected stakeholders dating back hundreds of years ago. Aboriginal Peoples of Australia had their land, power, and culture stolen due to colonization, and continue to suffer from the dramatic effects of colonization today.. With Aboriginal communities being in isolated, remote landscape which are prone to fire, it puts Aboriginal Peoples at the top of the list for being an affected stakeholder. Unfortunately, Aboriginal Peoples and the Torres Strait Islander Peoples have low power when it comes to the management of forests. In more recent years, Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Australia have become more included in management of forests, but they still do not hold a lot of power.

Crown (Government)

Crown land is non-freehold land managed by the Australian government and can be leased or used for environmental, conservation, and recreational purposes. Fires in Crown owned forests would affect income from recreational purposes of the forests. Out of control fires are also damaging to communities which reflects on the Crown's fire management. The Crown has high power when it comes to forest and fire management in Australia. They own the majority of the land in Australia and make the rules and regulations for land use and management.

Leasehold Stakeholders

Leasehold stakeholders privately manage forests on Crown land. Leasehold forests account for 36% of the forests in Australia and are generally used for grazing. Leasehold shareholders have more power than Aboriginal Peoples do in forest and fire management in Australia. Although they hold 36% of land tenure in the country, the land still officially belongs to the Crown, making the Crown the primary owner of the land. Leasehold shareholders have medium power as they manage a good portion of the land in Australia, but do not own it and have to follow government laws with land use and management.

Private Shareholders

Some forests within Australia are managed by private owners. Private landowners have complete control over land rights and use, as long as they follow jurisdictional laws. Because of their complete ownership of the land, private owners have high power when it comes to forest management. Fires in Australia can affect the private landowners financially, depending on how they use the forests. If  a private landowner is using the forest for timber production, a fire will decrease their amount of salable product, having a financial toll on the private owner. It will also be up to the landowner on what types of fire management they will practice to decrease frequency, duration, and magnitude of fires.

Interested Outside Stakeholders

The outside stakeholders or simply external stakeholders involve all other parties that seek to maintain the success of something they have stakes over. It can also be preventing something harmful to the community they live in. For example, the United Nations for the Environment Program (UNEP) and other international organizations understand the effects of fire in Australia. They would employ everything to make sure fires are stopped. It may range from deploying experts from state members to go check over what is happening and suggest solutions.  It is not necessarily that dedicated international organizations be the only ones involved. Instead, they open up for everyone with a contribution to play their part. In fact, recently, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre deployed its 40 staff members to Victoria in Australia to bring their expertise to battle wildfires that were going on in Australia  

Discussion

In the wiki, we tried to review papers about Indigenous Peoples in Australia and to understand the role they play in the battle to fight fires, and we detailed that collaboration with other stakeholders, including international organizations is the key to living free-wildfires Australia. Over the course of writing this wiki, we based on the research papers that other authors reviewed and the most recurring understanding was that Indigenous People of Australia felt the suppression and were dispossessed from their own lands. This was a critical issue for them to apply their worldview of basing nature at the center (or ecocentric). Until now, there is the feeling that some Indigenous Peoples in Australia are “refugees in their own land” according to Shannon (2017) in her paper titled “Refugees in their Own Land: how Indigenous people are still homeless in modern Australia”. Throughout this paper, the author goes back in history and explains the invasion of Westerners in Australia. In 1992 the British colonial government claimed the land to be empty “terra nullius” to mean that the land does not belong to anyone and so free to take. It is unbearable on this planet that the land can be autonomous until the 20th century. In this same paper, the author makes it clear that the British colonial government wanted to exploit resources and they were looking for a settlement. In doing so, the driving force was a factor that they could try by all means to strand the generation of kids that were taken off their parents during the period between 1900 and 1960s. This also helped to raise the cooked fact that the land has been empty.

However, the establishment of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Act (NTER) in 2007 fought for the rights of these children who were forced to leave their land and it was meant to build the new generation of people who had direct attachments to the lands they owned in the past. Who in the world would like this? The act received massive critiques that challenged addressing child abuse and avoiding humiliation that Indigenous people faced became problematic. Without anyone to hear the voice of Indigenous peoples, they moved out of their places and became homeless in what was their land. The guess of many, including myself, could be that after a long time suffering for the rights Indigenous peoples deserved, they would protest for international organizations to call for declarations and/or conventions to sort out the issues. For the purpose of this work, we will discuss the implications for the introduction of “Recognizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Customary Law” of 2003 which was believed to be a way to reconciliation.

The law recognized the indigenous traditions across all cultures and the aim was to unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. However, it remained a dream because of the ongoing relationship of the time. One of the challenges the law faced was to convince the court that it is important to enact this law among the first priorities. This happened due to the control the suppressing government had acquired since taking over in 1992.

The Indigenous people in Australia lived this life and didn’t get time to practice their world views which were believed to be pivotal to combat climate change which caused wildfires recently.

Now after the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), everyone understands that only through collaboration Aboriginal people can live the life they dreamed despite the challenges. Indigenous Peoples are at high risk of fires because they live in isolated, remote landscapes prone to fires.with on-going Climate change which increases the frequency of wildfire causing problems to indigenous communities that depend on the forest for cultural and subsistence purposes. Fire management is set among priorities for IP: inform policy in the face of global changes. Burning to help the growth of “green pick”, to clear spaces where snakes might be hiding and controlling traditional burns are suggested pose low risks.

Therefore, incorporating aboriginal people in bushfires management strategies by Bushfires’ Northern Territory Agency of Northern territory government could be the key.  They would incorporate historical burning practices, support & accept prescribed burning programs different from European tenure where burning was in Earlier Dry Season EDS. Aboriginal people would accept the risks of fire and trust agencies (police dept). outside intervention was not necessarily needed. In some cases, restricted road access was the reason why burning occurred.

Assessment

Your assessment of the relative power of each group of social actors, and how that power is being used

Current practices to fix fire regimes in Australia requires everyone's efforts, but most importantly requires the collaboration from international organizations. International organizations, such as the United Nations set the conventions and Declarations which give chances to indigenous people to voice out and be heard . By considering the past, we would say that indigenous people got the traditional knowledge to combat fire but they are not given adequate time . As it stands now the government has the absolute power to intervene with who they think is important to help with fires. Most calls go to international organizations and then indigenous peoples.

Recommendations

Current fire management regimes follow a western approach dating back to when the European’s first colonized Australia. Since then, wildfires have increased in frequency, duration, and magnitude. Out of control wildfires put Aboriginal communities at a higher risk because they live in isolated, remote landscapes prone to fire. Involving Aboriginal Peoples in the establishment of new rules and regulations regarding wildfires will provide new perspectives and ideas on how fires have been managed in the past. It will allow the Aboriginals of Australia to be included in framework and policy making. Aboriginal Peoples will be helping in fire management within the country, and practicing traditional burning practices, bringing them closer to their cultural identity. During a time of reconciliation, it is important that Australia’s Aboriginal Peoples are involved in the policy and decision making of land use and management. Although there has been an increase in involvement of Aboriginal Peoples in forest and fire management in Australia, the country still has a long way to go. Aboriginals in Australia continue to face the harsh effects of colonization even during modern times. With a very little population today able to sustain their cultural history, it is important Aboriginal Peoples are valued and praised for their traditional knowledge and ecocentric world views.

References

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