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EcoEarth |
Green Black Alliance PanelEarthling Environmental Activist Forum Green Black Alliance Panel 10.30am - 12:30pm Saturday 30th September, Newcastle Town Hall, Banquet Room Some alliances between environmentalists and Aboriginal activists have been hugely successful, as are some Aboriginal conservation areas. Others have raised questions about where Aboriginal and environmental interests diverge. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal panellists and audience members reflect on their experiences in green-black alliances. What works, and what needs to be improved? A major challenge ahead lies in the harmonising of the protection of biodiversity with the values and responsibilities inherent in traditional Aboriginal ownership of country.The “absolute right” to private property currently being foisted onto aboriginal communities as a way of securing “self determination,” must be questioned in the context of the need for biodiversity conservation and traditional communal ownership. The handback of Uluru in October 1985 was an attempt to synthesise land rights and biodiversity protection. The model of Aboriginal-owned National Parks was extended to NSW by the Mutawintji National Park Agreement of 1998 and the Biamanga National Park Agreement of 2005. Such models are criticised for being merely another way of alienating traditional people from rights to their land. Others claim these protected areas are a workable middle way between property ownership by Land Councils, Government alienation and the protection of important areas of biodiversity. The long-running Stockton Bight Aboriginal-owned National Park process sets the scene for a discussion of the merits and limitations of such models. While alliances can be built between indigenous people and environmentalists by working through such issues, they can also lead to further conflict, both within Aboriginal communities and between environmentalists and land rights activists. Is there a better way to support Aboriginal sovereignty and self determination while at the same time being comforted that white Australia’s impact on this country can be slowed by protecting what’s left? Carole Ridgeway-Bisset, Worimi Traditional Owner
Arthur Ridgeway, Indigenous elder Ellie Gilbert, Lake Cowal defender Peter Thompson, Nature Conservation Council Lucinda Douglass, The Wilderness Society Panel-led and audience participatory panel. |
SearchRandom image Upcoming eventsPopular contentRandom Quote"Think of the climate as a small boat on a rather choppy ocean. Under normal circumstances the boat will rock to and fro, and there is a finite risk that the boat could be overturned by a rogue wave. But now one of the passengers has decided to stand up and is deliberately rocking the boat ever more violently. Someone suggests that this is likely to increase the chances of the boat capsizing. Another passenger then proposes that with his knowledge of chaotic dynamics he can counterbalance the first passenger and indeed, counter the natural rocking caused by the waves. But to do so he needs a huge array of sensors and enormous computational reasources to be ready to react efficiently but still wouldn't be able to guarantee absolute stability, and indeed, since the system is untested it might make things worse. So is the answer to a known and increasing human influence on climate an ever more elaborate system to control the climate? Or should the person rocking the boat just sit down?" |
