Overview

The ALA’s IEK program of work recognises the essential nature of a collaborative approach, and aims to provide tools to enable and empower greater Indigenous participation in biodiversity information management and assessment, and to support other aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people related to ecological or biodiversity knowledge. For more information contact Rebecca Pirzl (rebecca.pirzl@csiro.au) or Stephanie von Gavel (stephanie.vongavel@csiro.au).

Yugul Mangi Rangers: Two-way biodiversity project

The Yugul Mangi Rangers in South-East Arnhem Land are working with Emilie Ens, an ecologist from Macquarie University, to document species and share traditional Aboriginal names and stories of plants and animals with other Australians. The project enters Western and Indigenous scientific knowledge into the ALA and provides a two-way Indigenous engagement case study to encourage more Indigenous content, and importantly feedback loops to make the ALA more relevant and useful for Indigenous people.

• Sharing Indigenous women’s knowledge of biodiversity and culture across tribal boundaries in Arnhem Land
• ALA Symposium 2016 presentation by Maritza Roberts and Basil Murrungun
• Learning by doing: the Yugul Mangi Rangers and ecologists conduct two-way biodiversity research in remote Arnhem Land with ALA support
• First ALA records of elusive Leichhardt’s Grasshopper in Arnhem Land
• Returning to the remote Country of the Ngandi people
• Bringing south-east Arnhem Land stories to south-east Australia mob

Olkola People: sharing knowledge and caring for country

The Olkola People of Cape York, CSIRO researchers, and the Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre (TIEC) are working together; using the ALA and its Profiles tool to explore ways to share and utilise knowledge to help care for country. The project builds on past and current efforts of the Olkola people to record and secure their cultural resources, and understand the complex social, cultural and legal (especially Indigenous cultural and intellectual property) issues and risks to ensure robust decisions can be made about sharing their knowledge on public platforms such as the ALA. The aim is for Olkola to share these learnings with other communities.

• Anika Valenti, Solicitor with Terri Janke & Company – IP workshop with Olkola Aboriginal Corporation
• ALA Symposium 2016 presentation by John Ross (Olkola Traditional Owner) and Pethie Lyons (CSIRO)
• Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: The Olkola People
• Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: Olkola and Killarney Station

Banbai Nation Fire and Season calendars

Banbai nation people at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area in northern New South Wales, are working with Michelle McKemey at the University of New England to develop fire and season calendars. The calendars represent annual seasonal changes as well as biocultural indicators that indicate the right, and wrong, time to burn. They are developed using results of ecological experiments, literature reviews, observations and cultural knowledge gathered through interviews.

• Indigenous fire and seasons calendar

Improving the relevance of the ALA website and software for Indigenous people

The ALA develops and improves its software and website through sprints (a concentrated software development work phase) and is undertaking work in response to feedback from Indigenous community users. Some of the work includes:

• introduction of specific spatial layers into the ALA’s mapping and analysis tools – such as 2o16 Indigenous Protected Areas, Indigenous Land Use Agreement areas, Representative Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Body areas.
• modifications to the Species Profiles app to upload multi-media files and to improve useability
• addition of a tab and other modifications on ALA Species pages to enable Indigenous stories, Indigenous language names and multimedia to be displayed.
• the following spreadsheet provides a format to add language names for species consistent with Darwin Core standards
• development of a prototype Indigenous seasonal calendar platform – http://calendars-test.ala.org.au.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property

The ALA worked with Terri Janke & Company to develop some Indigenous Knowledge Protocols for the ALA. It includes the concept of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) which incorporates all aspects of knowledge (science, plant and animal knowledge, stories, designs and symbols, ritual knowledge), cultural objects (arts, crafts, weapons, tools), performances (ceremonies, dance and song) and human remains and includes the secret and sacred.  As part of a broader review of the terms of use for the ALA – we are working out how best to implement the protocols, which includes guiding principles such as:

• Respect
• Involving Indigenous Stakeholders
• Consultation
• Informed Consent
• Cultural Integrity
• Confidentiality and Privacy
• Attribution
• Equitable Benefit Sharing
• Recognition and Protection
• Timely, Transparent and Respectful Process for Responding to Feedback.

About Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK)

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