Cross-cultural management of freshwater on resource-constrained islands

This project aims to develop a methodology for community-led adaptive water management on resource-constrained islands and will involve Indigenous communities in the development of predictive groundwater models. The project plans to apply three-dimensional participatory mapping, a stakeholder engagement process led and owned by the local communities, on Milingimbi Island in the Northern Territory. The extension of the participatory mapping with a subsurface component will then support the conceptualisation and development of a numerical model of the island's groundwater system. The predictive model and community engagement processes are expected to provide a more robust methodology for evaluating future water management plans. The project outcomes will contribute to solving water supply problems in remote communities in Australia, and overseas.

Output(s)

A transdisciplinary engagement with Australian Aboriginal water and the hydrology of a small bedrock island

Type

Journal article

Authors

Hayashi, Y., Christie, M., Gaillard, J.C., Banks, E.W., Batelaan, O. and Ellis, J

Publisher

Hydrological Sciences Journal

Publication date

2021

Rights notice

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

File

A transdisciplinary engagement with Australian Aboriginal water and the hydrology of a small bedrock island.pdf

Link

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2021.1974025

Gapu Napurrun

Type

Video

Authors

Alfred Walpay, Clive Gaṯaṯawuy, George Milaypuma, Leonard Bawayŋu, Raymond Buḻanbuḻa

Publisher

Northern Institute

Publication date

Not listed.

Rights notice

This video was filmed at the bank of Nilatjirriwa billabong on Milingimbi Island. The owners and custodians of the billabong discuss the collective accountability with which how the (ground)water sources on the island are traditionally cared and celebrated. The implications drawn from this video are crucial in considering Milingimbi cultural governance and local decision making platform.

File

Translation

Link

https://vimeo.com/481542223

Cross-cultural management of freshwater on resource-constrained islands

Type

Website

Authors

Northern Institute

Publisher

Northern Institute

Publication date

2017

Rights notice

Link

https://groundup.cdu.edu.au/index.php/cross-cultural-management-of-freshwater-o…

Project information

Project ownerNot listed

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Community / Language group(s)

Project contact(s)

Professor Okke Batelaan

okke.batelaan@flinders.edu.au

Researcher(s)

Gumbula Consultancies
Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation
Professor Okke Batelaan
Prof Adrian Werner
Prof Michael Christie
Dr Karina Meredith
A/Prof JC Gaillard

Supporting partner(s)

Complete

Yes

Start date

2016

End date2018

Topic(s)

Closing the Gap focus

Funder(s)

Organisation(s)

Indigenous involvement

Indigenous involvement notes

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed case study of a long-term engagement between hydrologists, government, and Yolŋu, who are the traditional owners of Milingimbi Island, a small, resource-constrained island located off the north coast of Australia’s Northern Territory, and to discuss the processes of water management decision making and the different epistemic practices of these stakeholders and Yolŋu rightsholders. In particular, this research focuses on the Yolŋu Aboriginal landscape – the water, land, and people of Milingimbi Island – and addresses the ways in which complex Aboriginal understandings and authority over freshwater knowledge, understanding, and management can work together with Western science. Such collaboration involved bringing together (1) Western scientific knowledge, in the development of the hydrogeological conceptual model of the groundwater system and how it responds to varying hydroclimatic conditions and stresses; (2) the participatory engagement between the Yolŋu rightsholders, the traditional owners and caretakers of the island and its waters, the local ranger group, and the end users with the use of participatory three-dimensional mapping (P3DM) that created the space for dialogue; and (3) strategic planning from the utility provider, co-responsible for the operation, management, and delivery of the resource.

Cross-cultural management of freshwater on resource-constrained islands

Output(s)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.

AIATSIS acknowledges all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of Country and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.