Sustainable wildlife enterprises in remote Indigenous communities are an important source of economic development and employment whilst providing people with opportunities to continue their close connection with country and maintain customary wildlife harvesting practices. Critical to the success of wildlife enterprises is recognition of the importance of both Indigenous ecological knowledge and western science in their design and implementation.

This seminar reports on the development of Indigenous ranger capacity to monitor and document their land management activities and guide management strategies, drawing on a case study with the Manwurrk Rangers and feral animal control in western Arnhem Land.

There exists a growing body of literature about the benefits to Indigenous people, as well as to the environment, of living on and caring for land and sea country. However, most of these findings emanate from Northern Australia, where Aboriginal people are usually working on their own Aboriginal-owned or -controlled land. NSW is the state with the largest absolute number of Indigenous people, but their landholdings comprise less than one per cent of the state.

Since late 2006 CAEPR has worked on a collaborative research project with the Bardi Jawi Rangers based on the northern tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. This research was commissioned by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILMSA) as part of its NHT-funded Dugong and Marine Turtle Project and was also supported by the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) as a major project partner.

Aboriginal People in the tropical savannah of the Northern Territory (NT) own 170,000 sq km of land including 85% of the coastline. Land and sea country have great cultural, economic and social significance to Aboriginal people, underpinning their culture and society. Aboriginal landowners continue to be reliant on the natural environment for both spiritual and physical well-being. Creation ancestors form part of a living landscape and practices such as hunting, foraging, burning, caring for sacred sites and ceremony have an important place in contemporary Aboriginal life.