Marranbala – Together We Are Stronger
The Northern Territory supports an extensive coastline and diverse marine environments, which are enormously important to all Territorians, particularly Traditional Owners.
The management of this sea country can become a complex web, especially where there are both Northern Territory marine parks, Australian marine parks within Commonwealth waters, and Aboriginal Land Trust intertidal zones in the mix. Many of the environmental and cultural impacts and challenges of managing these areas are similar, and would benefit from integrated management as well as a holistic approach to protection.
For this reason, the Australian Government is supporting Parks and Wildlife and Marra Traditional Owners to develop an integrated framework for managing sea country across multiple jurisdictions with the Marra at the centre of decision making. This example will hopefully stand as a best-practice model for managing the marine and coastal environment in a way that respects Aboriginal culture which may be replicated elsewhere.
This work has been a long time in the making, with extensive collaboration between Parks and Wildlife and Marra Traditional Owners in the development of the Limmen Bight Marine Park Plan of Management. The management plan is unique in that it is designed with the intent of Traditional Owners being at the heart of decision making, not just for the marine park but for the whole of their sea country that the marine park resides in. It also states the future management of Limmen Bight rests with Aboriginal rangers, specifically the establishment of a Marra ranger group.
The next phase of this work is supported by $2.27 million in funding from the Australian Government to strengthen marine park management across the Northern Territory, starting with Limmen Bight, which was recently recognised for excellence in the public sector, receiving the Chief Minister’s award for advancing Aboriginal and community development.
The video showcases some of the highlights along the journey to put Marra Traditional Owners central to decision making for sea country care and management.
While the award brought recognition to the efforts of everyone involved in bringing the work to this point, and what is planned going forward, the next highlight was the completion of the Marranbala Healthy Country Plan. The plan is a shining example of the belief that together we are stronger. Its vision is to ensure Marra country and culture is strong, through the fundamentals of good governance and working in partnership with others.
The next steps in both the Marranbala Healthy Country Plan, and the federally funded project, is to establish good governance. Work is kicking off in this space following the recruitment of a Marine Partnerships Coordinator. Laura Boren joins the team from a role in the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Her role is to help facilitate and support the Marra people and the recently established Namultja Aboriginal Corporation to establish a model of integrated sea country management.
With the culmination of these recent events, the range of partners including Marra Traditional Owners, Li-Anthwirryarra Sea Rangers, Parks and Wildlife and Parks Australia staff, Conservation Management, and Charles Darwin University scientists, came together recently in Darwin to update one another on a host of related projects and to establish a way forward for the next steps in this exciting piece of work.
This includes setting up an Aboriginal ranger group, sharing the results of recently completed sea grass surveys, developing a monitoring and evaluation program and development of a communications strategy so they can share their story.
This project brings together people with expertise and knowledge of cultural and biodiversity values, monitoring, policy, governance, communication and education, showing that we really are stronger together.
