Towards Climate Justice through Valuing and Investing in Indigenous Worldviews

$40,000 | July 2021

What do Towards Climate Justice do?

Towards Climate Justice aims to raise awareness—and attract financial and action-based investment—on the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems that are integral to achieving climate justice. This advocacy project comprises a series of talks and a bespoke Indigenous-led conference on Country in North East Arnhem Land, targeting corporate and philanthropic visitors to attend and invest in change.

The goal of this recent project is to develop awareness on the work and practice of the Dhimurru Rangers over the Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), which comprises approximately 550,000 hectares of Yolŋu land and sea in North East Arnhem Land.

Why is this work important?

The IPA puts into practice Dhimurru’s Vision Statement which sets out a commitment to support Yolŋu Traditional Owners in the management of their land and sea Country. These protected areas are able to sequester and store carbon. When degraded or destroyed, they emit the carbon they have stored for centuries into the atmosphere and oceans and become sources of greenhouse gases.

It is therefore crucial to invest in the protection of these ecosystems as an invaluable resource for our planet. The management of these ecosystems has been practiced by Yolŋu people for thousands of years and they intend to build awareness of cultural ecological management systems and Yolŋu-led project plans that draw from Yolŋu law and continue to preserve a sustainable connection with Country that all Australians can invest in, both economically and through action-based support.

How is Groundswell supporting this work?

With Groundswell’s support, Towards Climate Justice’s campaign strategy consists of the development of three interrelated steps:

1. An educational platform delivered through an initial forum of Indigenous-led talks (occurring both in person and online) with key experts on climate action and the environment, Yolŋu Traditional Owners, cultural leaders and rangers to spread the message across corporate and philanthropic investors, and build interest in participating in the conference on Country;

2. An Indigenous-led conference on Country in North East Arnhem Land targeting the attendees of the talks (corporate investors and philanthropists) to meet the Dhimurru Rangers and learn firsthand about their work and the fundamental truth of Indigenous cultural management of Country. A conference on Country is a necessary step to fully understand Yolŋu philosophy and values towards land and sea management—an opportunity to explore and understand the real value of ‘Caring as Country.’

3. A roundtable discussion for internal evaluation, with all participants and experts involved, to review the process and develop an action plan to invest in future Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation projects.

Our objectives will be measurable, in the short term, on the basis of how many people will sign up to participate in the campaign—the talks and the conference—and, in the long term, through the potential investment of corporations and private funders to support Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation to ‘Care as Country’ on Yolŋu terms, that will follow up the campaign.

Grant update

Due to unforeseen circumstances and the impact of COVID19, Dhimurru Rangers have informed us they no longer have the capacity to be engaged in the original proposal. Instead, a broader Ranger group of Arnhem Land; Yirralka Rangers (Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation) and the local arts and cultural centre, Buku-Larrnggay Mulka will continue this important program.

Program adjustments are as follows:

Towards Climate Justice through Valuing and Investing in Indigenous Worldviews aims to raise awareness—and attract financial and action-based investment—on the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems that are integral to achieving climate justice. This advocacy project comprises a series of talks and a bespoke Indigenous-led conference on Country in North East Arnhem Land, targeting corporate and philanthropic visitors to attend and invest in change.

1. An educational platform delivered through an initial forum of Indigenous-led talks (Scheduled for GARMA Festival August 2022) with key experts on climate action and the environment, Yolŋu Traditional Owners, cultural leaders and rangers to spread the message across corporate and philanthropic investors, and build interest in participating in the conference on Country;

2. An Indigenous-led conference on Country in North East Arnhem Land targeting the attendees of the talks (corporate investors and philanthropists) to meet the Yirralka Rangers and learn firsthand about their work and the fundamental truth of Indigenous cultural management of Country. A conference on Country is a necessary step to fully understand Yolŋu philosophy and values towards land and sea management—an opportunity to explore and understand the real value of ‘Caring as Country.’

3. A roundtable discussion for internal evaluation, with all participants and experts involved, to review the process and develop an action plan to invest in the future of Indigenous land and sea management through cultural practices.

With this in mind, our campaign strategy consists of the development of three interrelated steps:

1. An educational platform delivered through an initial forum of Indigenous-led talks (occurring both in person and online) with key experts on climate action and the environment, Yolŋu Traditional Owners, cultural leaders and rangers to spread the message across corporate and philanthropic investors, and build interest in participating in the conference on Country;

2. An Indigenous-led conference on Country in North East Arnhem Land targeting the attendees of the talks (corporate investors and philanthropists) to meet the Dhimurru Rangers and learn firsthand about their work and the fundamental truth of Indigenous cultural management of Country. A conference on Country is a necessary step to fully understand Yolŋu philosophy and values towards land and sea management—an opportunity to explore and understand the real value of ‘Caring as Country.’

3. A roundtable discussion for internal evaluation, with all participants and experts involved, to review the process and develop an action plan to invest in future Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation projects.

Our objectives will be measurable, in the short term, on the basis of how many people will sign up to participate in the campaign—the talks and the conference—and, in the long term, through the potential investment of corporations and private funders to support Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation to ‘Care as Country’ on Yolŋu terms, that will follow up the campaign.

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