Proposed Kaanju Homelands (Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers) Indigenous Protected Area

The area of Kaanju Homelands being investigated for IPA establishment encompasses some 471,536 hectares and is centred on the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers (see Map to the left). Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and Kaanju traditional  owners living on homelands have prepared a draft Management Plan for the proposed IPA. The Plan identifies likely parts of Kaanju Homelands to be managed as an IPA, the likely IUCN management category for this area, a description of the Indigenous and natural heritage values of Kaanju Homelands, and management prescriptions for these values. The Kaanju Homelands (Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers) IPA Management Plan also includes aspirations of the relevant Kaanju traditional landowners for the future of our homelands with milestones for the next five years, should the project proceed. The final draft Management Plan will be circulated for comments by relevant interested parties.

Land management philosophy
The Kaanju worldview, in particular Kaanju governance and cosmology, underlie all aspects of Kaanju relationships with homelands, including land ownership, land management practices and regimes, and our rights and obligations in regard to land and resource use and management. Kaanju governance and cosmology also determine contemporary Indigenous management of homelands and is thus the underlying philosophy for appropriate management and planning for homelands, and the philosophy driving this Management Plan.

Aspirations
The aspirations for the Kaanju traditional owners for the area of the proposed IPA are based on the goals outlined in our Kaanju Homelands Land and Resource Management Framework. Our aspirations include:
- To conserve, protect and enhance the natural and cultural values of Kaanju Homelands for the benefit of current and future generations of Kaanju people.
- To manage Kaanju Homelands in accordance with Kaanju laws and customs.
- To reaffirm traditional Kaanju governance structures in relation to land and resource management on Kaanju Homelands.
- To promote the recognition, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, of the Kaanju people as primary managers and decision makers for our homelands.
- To develop and operate homelands-based community enterprises that incorporate sustainable land management principles.
- To develop homelands-based projects, education and training that will improve the capacity and self-esteem of Kaanju people living on homelands.
- To support Kaanju people in our permanent reoccupation of homelands.
- To incorporate, where appropriate, traditional knowledge with western scientific processes providing beneficial outcomes for natural and cultural resource management policy and practice.

IUCN Management Category
The proposed Kaanju Homelands IPA will be managed according to IUCN Protected Area Category V:

Protected Landscape/Seascape: Protected Areas managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation
Area of land, with coasts and seas as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, cultural and/or ecological value, and often with high biological diversity. Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.

(IUCN. 1994. Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. CNPPA with the assistance of WCMC. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK)

Land management themes and programs
In the draft Management Plan we have identified a number of management themes that encompass various land and resource management issues facing Kaanju people and Kaanju Homelands. These themes are:

• Homelands development
• Recognition of Kaanju governance and land and resource management practices and regimes
• Protection of significant Kaanju sites and landscapes
• Biodiversity conservation
• Third party (visitor) management
• Pest control and management
• Fire management
• Revegetation, rehabilitation and soil conservation
• Water management
• Indigenous knowledge transfer and maintenance
• Research
• Enterprise development
• Education, training and capacity building

The management themes and relevant land and resource management issues are discussed under four programs that reflect our aspirations as outlined above. Importantly, the separation of themes and issues across these programs does little justice to the complexity of elements Kaanju people must consider when undertaking the management of Ngaachi. The land management programs encompass actions for the management of Ngaachi. The management programs are:

Program A -
Actions to promote and support Kaanju land and resource management, Kaanju governance and land tenure, and the reoccupation of Kaanju Homelands.

Program B -
Actions to manage and control processes that threaten the sustainability of land and resources and the integrity of the Indigenous and natural heritage values of Kaanju Homelands.

Program C -
Actions to improve our knowledge and enhance existing knowledge of Kaanju Homelands.

Program D -
Actions to support the development of homelands-based enterprises, education, training and capacity building that support sustainable land and resource management.

Milestones
Milestones are set out in terms of core (or long-term) milestones and milestones to be achieved in the next five years (short-term). Core milestones relate to each of the four programs. These milestones are labelled 'core' because they are primary goals that we want to be achieved if not in the next five years, at least in the next ten to fifteen years. A number of the milestones will also require a considerable change in the worldview of government and western science in order to work towards their achievement. Short-term milestones are outlined under the particular program (or programs) to which they apply. The achievement of these milestones will have a cumulative result in that while they will be important as individual achievements they will also work towards the achievement of our core milestones. Further, there are a number of short-term milestones that are common across programs as well as across themes and issues within programs. This shows that land and resource management is difficult to break up into components. To be effective and sustainable land management must take a holistic approach.

Important components of the Management Plan include:

Indigenous knowledge transfer and maintenance
The development of strategies and projects that facilitate the maintenance of Kaanju language, knowledge and knowledge systems, as well as the customs and laws governing how we relate to our land, associated resources, each other and other people, is a major focus of this Management Plan. The community at Chuulangun are addressing this issue in the first instance by making the commitment to return permanently to homelands where we are in a better position both physically and spiritually to reconnect with our land. Importantly, Kaanju knowledge includes not only knowledge about flora, fauna, habitats, ecological processes, land use and management, but also our Elders  experiences of forced removals and dispossession, living on the fringes of mining camps, and involvement in the pastoral industry throughout the previous century.

Kaanju people recognise the integral link between Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity, further strengthening the need for this issue being addressed by this Management Plan. Indeed, the IUCN category being considered for the proposed IPA notes safeguarding of the integrity of the traditional interaction between people and nature over time as vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.

Homelands development
Importantly, homelands development at Chuula has demonstrated the considerable effort made, often against adversity, and commitment of Kaanju people to Ngaachi. On homelands we are in a better position, geographically, physically, spiritually and logistically to undertake our land management. Further, being 'on country' facilitates the intergenerational transfer, management and maintenance of Indigenous ecological knowledge and language, and the maintenance of Aboriginal law. Promotion and support for homelands development is thus an important component of this IPA Management Plan.

Collaboration and cooperation
As custodians and managers of our homelands Kaanju people understand the importance of developing, facilitating and maintaining cooperative relationships with neighbouring leaseholders on Kaanju Homelands, as well as with government and non-government bodies, where appropriate, with the aim of ensuring the sustainable management of the land, waters and associated resources. Since well before the inception of this IPA project, Kaanju people have been undertaking land management with this mindset. Importantly, we enter into these arrangements with the understanding that our principles as Indigenous landowners, managers and lawmakers will not be compromised. We have been communicating with government agencies, non-government organisations, conservation groups, as well as research and education institutions for several years now, with the aim to promote and seek support for our aims and aspirations as primary land managers. See the Projects page for more details.

To request a copy of the draft Kaanju Homelands (Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers) IPA Management Plan contact Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation.

"Kaanju people's engagement with the [IPA] scheme is ... part of our broader push to place ourselves as the primary agents responsible for land management on our homelands".

(Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation. 2005 Kaanju Homelands IPA Management Plan)