Return the Land
Looking to Traditional Owners to lead the way on the management of the environment is vital in protecting the natural world.
As outlined in Australia’s recent state of the environment report, Indigenous knowledge and sustainable cultural practices are vital to managing this country’s environment. First Nations peoples’ stewardship of Country is a deep connection, handed down through generations, and developed over tens of thousands of years. This includes songlines, totems, cultural principles, knowledge of the animals and plants, and land and sea management practices.
The struggle for climate justice, and the protection of wildlife, is intimately linked to the pursuit of Indigenous land rights and cannot be achieved in isolation from it. The protection of our wild places and faces depends on showing meaningful solidarity to Indigenous communities, and supporting their inherit right to care for country.
Indigenous communities lived sustainably on the Australian landscape for more than 65,000 years prior to European occupation.
Prior to European settlement, Indigenous communities relied heavily on the cultivation of native fruits and vegetables. According to Wild Food Plants of Australia, plant foods provided up to 80% of First Nations peoples’ diet in desert regions and as little as 40% in coastal areas where communities relied on traditional fishing practices.
Defend the Wild advocates for a treaty to be established between government and First Nations people, one which empowers First Nations people to make sovereign decisions about the management of their traditional homelands.
As recognised by a recent IPCC report, “Indigenous communities can advance effective adaptation through the passing down of knowledge about climate change and planning that promotes collective action and mutual support across the region”. As such, Defend the Wild aims to support community led projects driving the development of these systems.
The Wildlife Protection Commitment; Return
As a part of Defend the Wild’s Wildlife Protection Commitment for brands, businesses and institutions, we are committed to connecting and collaborating with Indigenous and local communities to support important community-driven projects protecting wildlife, land, and sacred culture.
The Wildlife Protection Commitment provides three tiers of commitments for brands, businesses and institutions based upon the three R’s; Reduce, Revolutionise and Return. Return is a tier for those who have committed to giving back to these community led projects, which have a meaningful impact on native animals, the environment and local communities too.
