David and Anthony Esposito, TWS Indigenous Program Manager, at
Chuula
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In June this year, the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation,
representing the Kaanju people of the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers,
and the Wilderness Society (TWS) entered into a Cooperation
Agreement.
David Claudie is a senior Kaanju Traditional Owner, chairman of
Chuulangun, and signatory to the agreement. In a recent statement
he noted that through the agreement Chuulangun and TWS accept
“a shared responsibility to preserve, protect and manage the
environment for the benefit of future generations”.
Kaanju homelands feature a range of ecosystems that are rich in
biodiversity and support a myriad of wildlife. This includes some
species found only in the spring-fed lagoons and water systems in
and around the free-flowing Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers.
Over a number of years Chuulangun has been developing a sustainable
base for land and resource management through regaining a permanent
presence on country, weed and feral management, water management,
reinstituting fire regimes, and biodiversity conservation.
This work has led to a comprehensive management plan for Kaanju
homelands, and underpins the proposal for the first formal
Indigenous Protected Area on the Cape.
“Kaanju people have a plan in place for the protection of our
homelands,” David says.
“This plan sets out to protect the natural and cultural
values of our homelands, and also recognises that people live on
the land.
“We are developing cooperative arrangements and agreements to
further our aspirations as primary land managers and to ensure
sustainable outcomes for all, in particular the protection of the
environment”.
Proper land management and sustaining Country are the basis of the
Cooperation Agreement between TWS and Chuulangun. The agreement
addresses contemporary land management and environmental issues,
and places the Kaanju Land and Resource Management Plan at its
centre.
Anthony Esposito, a signatory to the agreement for the Wilderness
Society says it is part of “developing a coherent and
strategic approach to Indigenous rights in lands and waters,
reflecting the inter-relationship between indigenous environmental,
spiritual, cultural and economic values and the new challenges of
land and water management in northern Australia”.
Together, Chuulangun and The Wilderness Society are working towards
the protection of the Wenlock and Pascoe rivers, the establishment
and substantial resourcing of the Indigenous Protected Area,
resolution of tenure and the conservation of homelands currently
under native title claim, and knowledge-sharing of the ecological
and cultural values of Kaanju homelands.
