Memorandum of understanding supports Indigenous and conservation goals for the Great Western Woodlands

The Wilderness Society (TWS) and the Goldfields Land and Sea Council (GLSC) have signed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together for the protection of WA’s extraordinary Great Western Woodlands (GWW).

The Great Western Woodlands is of global conservation significance. It contains the largest and healthiest temperate woodland remaining on Earth, covering almost 16 million hectares inland south eastern Western Australia. This immense area is part of the traditional Aboriginal lands of the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Native title claims cover most of the GWW area.

Mr Anthony Esposito (Indigenous Conservation Program - National Manager TWS) and Mr Trevor Donaldson (Operations Manager GLSC). Photo: Dr Alexander Watson

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council and The Wilderness Society developed the MOU through two years of dialogue, building up key points of agreement and working directly with Traditional Owners through field trips and discussions.

The partners will develop a co-operative approach along with other land users to safeguard the ecology and cultural values of the region, and to ensure land justice and economic opportunities for the region’s Traditional Owners. 

The MOU reflects The Wilderness Society’s commitment to protect Australia’s great natural areas, and in doing so to work together with Traditional Owners on the management and protection of their country. 

Through our WildCountry Indigenous Conservation Strategies, we are actively working on a program in which land justice, Indigenous rights and conservation combine in looking after the extraordinary natural and cultural values of the Australian environment.  

In the Great Western Woodlands, TWS seeks to secure the long term protection of the area’s globally-significant natural environments and cultural landscapes; to ensure the rights and interests of Indigenous Traditional Owners, including the right to manage homelands, are recognised in public policy; and to work cooperatively with Traditional Owners on conservation initiatives and sustainable economic developments.

The MOU between The Wilderness Society & Goldfields Land and Sea Council, sets a benchmark for future dealings between Indigenous and environment interests in WA. It will enable close collaboration on landscape conservation outcomes in GWW.
 
Working with the Traditional Owners of the area, TWS and GLSC will work on ‘conservation economy’ and Indigenous employment initiatives, including biodiversity management, Indigenous ranger programs, natural and cultural tourism, and carbon storage and fire management. Current priorities include looking at the carbon storage potential of the Great Western Woodlands through managing fire and vegetation, and the creation of new co-managed and Indigenous protected areas.

Lake Johnston GWW. Photo: Barbara Madden

TWS and GLSC founded the MOU on a clear understanding of the rights and interests of both GLSC and the Traditional Owners it represents, and the Wilderness Society in its role as an environmental advocacy organisation. This includes the right of Traditional Owners to Free, Prior and Informed Consent in relation to proposals affecting their Country, as affirmed in the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The agreement also recognises the democratic right of TWS to advocate for environmental goals. This is an important reconciliation of at times competing rights and interests.

The Wilderness Society and the Goldfields Land and Sea Council shared goals

The two parties to the MOU recognise and support each other’s aspirations and have built these into a set of shared goals.

Conservation goals
1. Protecting the natural and cultural values of the Great Western Woodlands under a comprehensive land use and conservation plan with supporting legislation
2. Ensuring adequate long term funding to support landscape management based on the best science and Indigenous ecological knowledge, to ameliorate significant threats including feral animals, weeds and the incidence of repeated, high intensity, large-scale wildfires
3. Identify areas of outstanding natural value and Indigenous cultural importance, for inclusion in new protected areas. These may include Indigenous owned areas, and conservation parks and protected areas with legally enshrined joint management arrangements between the traditional owners and the WA Department of Environment and Conservation
4. Through consultation with the community and regional stakeholders, resolve future land use and tenure issues, including formal conservation reserves, native title claims, sustainable economic opportunities and cultural heritage protection
5. Development of a substantial Great Western Woodlands Indigenous Rangers and Land Managers program, to support Traditional Owners to manage their natural and cultural heritage in cooperation with State agencies and other land managers

Indigenous goals
1. Continued engagement of Traditional Owners through their legal representatives the Goldfields Land and Sea Council (GLSC) as key stakeholders in this process including:

a. Committed funding for a suitable consultation and approvals process

b. A carefully agreed culturally approved consultation and approvals process which adheres to the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent as contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

c. Respectful acknowledgement of the Traditional Owners as the custodians of their important heritage and culture

2. Traditional Owner ownership of all new conservation areas including legally enshrined joint management initiatives with DEC and other bodies; and
3. Economic support for Traditional Owner economic initiatives including land management, ranger programs and tourism

Read the media release

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