Monitoring Country: Developing an Indigenous environmental monitoring platform

Project start date: 01/01/2023
Project end date: 30/12/2026
NESP funding: $785,000 (GST exclusive)

Indigenous rangers protect, manage and monitor vast areas of land and sea Country Australia-wide. However, there is limited clear guidance on which tools to use for monitoring, how to optimise monitoring methods and how to manage monitoring data while maintaining data sovereignty. This project is building a web-based platform for Indigenous Land and Sea Country managers Australia wide that:

• provides concise, standardised guidance on appropriate technologies and protocols for monitoring and evaluating on-Country management activities
• provides a suite of tools and resources that complement this guidance
• identifies pathways to securely manage monitoring data and associated Indigenous Knowledge for future generations.

This project was conceived in consultation with Indigenous practitioners, primarily to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their on-Country management activities that aim to protect natural and cultural values and mitigate threats. The project is addressing deficiencies in the capture, curation, storage and analysis of information and the use of this information to report on the environmental, economic, social and cultural outcomes of on-Country activities. These issues are pivotal to ensuring ongoing support for and, ultimately, growth of Indigenous land, water and sea management programs.

Rangers at work on Cape York. Photo: Gina Zimny.

Key research areas

This platform will enable ranger groups and other Indigenous practitioners to produce and deliver outputs that affirm the exceptional quality and quantity of their on-ground activities. This will support the Australian Government’s objectives to continue to support and ultimately grow Indigenous ranger and associated Landcare programs. This project is doing that by:

• developing an Indigenous-tested toolbox of standardised, fit-for-purpose on-Country monitoring methods, accompanied by guidance on how, why, when and where to deploy the tools
• validating the methodologies and technologies used by and recommended to Indigenous practitioners to ensure they are fit for purpose and culturally appropriate
• supporting the development of methods for the enduring storage, management and analysis of monitoring data where Indigenous practitioners maintain sovereignty over their data and how it is used, in keeping with the principles of FPIC (free, prior and informed consent), CARE (collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics) and FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability).

Pathway to impact

This project will:

• improve monitoring across the Indigenous Estate so Traditional Custodians can clearly track environmental condition and report outcomes
• provide consistent, culturally grounded tools and standards that strengthen on-Country conservation and threat management
• equip Indigenous Country managers and rangers with accessible training videos, decision-support tools and fit-for-purpose monitoring protocols.