Northern Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) climate change adaptation workshop report

Abstract

It was made clear from all of the presentations that climate change is occurring and its consequences, or changes attributed to climate change, are manifestly being observed and noted by Traditional owners on country in ways that richly complement the much more publicised knowledge emerging from the “western” scientific paradigm. The impacts are both direct and indirect, obvious and variously disguised, environmental and social. The way to mitigate impacts and adapt to changes varies across natural and human landscapes. One of the key features in north Australia is the relatively large proportion of Indigenous people who are particularly vulnerable, not only to obvious physical impacts of climate change effects like more frequent severe cyclones; but to background conditions such as economic underinvestment, poverty, health issues and the vicissitudes of policy making. Such conditions in over-governed, under-resourced communities (remote and urban) exacerbate problems with adaptation to change and capacity to respond. Climate change in north Australia cannot be treated in isolation from existing conditions of life and is increasingly affecting Indigenous lives everywhere, becoming a key stimulus for driving Indigenous capacity, response and adaptation to short and long term changes in their physical and social environment.