22 September
2006 - A new agreement with Indigenous communities
in north-east Arnhem Land will deliver positive
benefits for the environment, employment and social
cohesion.
The Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage,
Greg Hunt, today launched Layhnapuy Indigenous
Protected Area (IPA): Australia's 21st Indigenous
Protected Area.
The agreement covers an area
of 450,000 hectares (4,500 square kilometres)
bordering the Gulf of Carpentaria and owned by
the Yolgnu people of the Laynhapuy homeland communities.
Mr Hunt also announced $205,000
in Australian Government funding for the 18 Yirralka
Indigenous rangers to expand their conservation
work - including control of buffalo, surveillance
for illegal fishing and cleaning up dangerous
marine debris.
"The IPA will lead to new
jobs for Yolgnu people, helping them manage their
land according to international conservation guidelines,"
Mr Hunt said.
"Under their management
plan, the Yirralka rangers will control feral
water buffalo and pigs to reduce the threat to
one of Australia's biological jewels: the stunning
wetlands around the big rivers flowing into Blue
Mud Bay.
"They will clear the dangerous
ghost nets which foul the coastline and improve
the protection of important turtle nesting habitat.
They will work on control of crazy ants and weeds
and will set up projects to monitor and protect
important cultural heritage sites.
"This is important work
which benefits all Australians. This country includes
some of the most remote and intact natural systems
in Australia, and the IPA brings the area of land
managed for conservation in the coast bioregion
from 3 per cent to 12 per cent.
"It also provides a pathway
for these remote communities to meaningful jobs
with spin-offs in health, education and social
cohesion."
Mr Hunt pointed to important
social benefits in the 20 other communities managing
Indigenous Protected Areas. Seventy four per cent
of communities report their IPA work helps to
reduce substance abuse, 85 per cent link their
IPA activities to early school engagement and
three-quarters have reported improvement in family
and community cohesion.
"I hope that we can help
Laynhapuy develop a junior ranger program in the
future, along the lines of the ones we are trialling
at Kakadu and Jervis Bay in NSW, starting at primary
school level. These junior ranger programs need
to be continued through secondary school trainee
ranger courses leading to adult careers as Indigenous
rangers.
"I believe Indigenous Protected
Areas, coupled with a concerted Indigenous Ranger
program from primary school on, should form the
basis of a national model to provide career opportunities
in land management for Indigenous people."
Laynhapuy Chairman Mr Barayuwa
Mununngurr said the declaration of the Indigenous
Protected Area was a step forward in the sustainable
management of their country.
"Our country continues
to nurture us as it did our ancestors and as we
wish for our children," Mr Mununngurr said.
"The IPA offers us a great
opportunity for Yolgnu young people to be employed
in managing our country using the knowledge of
both cultures.
"We need to build on our
current work and grow our ranger force, our funds
and equipment and our skills and capacity.
"We Yolgnu welcome visitors
and in our plan we look at ways to manage tourists
so that they can admire the country and wildlife
and go boating and fishing whilst respecting our
privacy and our cultural sites.
"Some of our communities
are interested in tourism. Some are investigating
other small scale economic activities that could
support people and help them to be independent.
We're looking at art and craft, harvesting bush
tucker for sale, harvesting pest animals like
buffalo and possibly producing mud bricks for
housing.
"We look forward to building
on this good start and developing partnerships
with governments, private enterprise, research
institutions and conservation organisations for
the sustainable use of our country."
The Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected
Area now becomes part of Australia's National
Reserve System, a network of important parcels
of land where examples of our biodiversity are
protected for future generations. The IPA will
eventually comprise 6,900 square kilometres with
630 kilometres of coastline.
Since 1996, Indigenous landholders
have declared approximately 14 million hectares
- almost 6 per cent of Australia's land mass -
as Indigenous Protected Areas.
The Australian Government has
provided more than $14.8 million in funding to
IPAs since 1996, with an additional $3.1 million
to be allocated in 2006-07.
For further information on Indigenous
Protected Areas, visit www.deh.gov.au/indigenous/ipa.
John Deller (Mr Hunt's office)
Ric Norton (Laynhapuy Homelands Association)
