Enhancing capacity of Indigenous communities to conserve and protect natural resources

The project acts to enhance the capacity of the Indigenous communities of south west
Queensland, to conserve and protect natural sources, in particular those species and
ecosystems within SWNRM’s areas of national, state and regional environmental
significance. Through engagement with traditional owners, the project will demonstrate and
promote methods for enhancing the condition and resilience of critical drought refugia,
threatened ecological communities, and other vulnerable ecosystems within the region’s
highly variable climate, to allow for a return to a traditional landscape. The project will identify
and promote traditional culture and values that underpin biodiversity conservation, heritage
conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The project encompasses the Indigenous communities of the Kooma, Bidjara, Kunja,
Mardigan, Budjiti, and Kullilli people within the Warrego, Paroo, Bulloo and Nebine
catchments, comprising of 18,723,594 hectares. The project specifically focuses on the
implementation of aspirational NRM change on the Indigenous Protected Areas and Nature
Refuges of Murra Murra and Bendee Downs (49,974 hectares; Kooma people) and Mount
Tabor (70,574 hectares; Bidjara people). Additionally, the project works with other
Indigenous communities to strategize and implement opportunities for enhancing culture and
opportunity.
The project will leverage off and value-add to the experience and success of previous
cooperative Indigenous projects; further enhancing the strategic relationships of the
organisation with respect to the education and adoption of natural resource management
strategies within Indigenous communities .