ICIN was recently invited by Girringun Aboriginal Corporation to attend a ‘blue carbon’ workshop with Traditional Owners from Nine groups on Girramay country in Cardwell together with researchers from JCU TropWater, Charles Darwin University and the University of Queensland.
It was inspiring to hear of the incredible work Girringun are doing to care for their country, including research, marine biology, sea grass rehabilitation, leading education programs to support the next generation of rangers and Traditional Owners with coastal rehabilitation, in caring for country, culture and their people.
‘Blue Carbon’ is a refers to carbon stored in coastal ecosystems including mangroves, sea grass, coastal floodplains and paperbark forests.
The tidal restoration method values the carbon stored in soils and plants when a barrier to the natural tide, such as a sea wall or levee bank, is removed.
Nywaigi Traditional Owner Jacob Cassady, of Mungalla Aboriginal Corporation spoke about the tidal restoration blue carbon project they had helped establish in partnership with Greening Australia, and the need to ensure any carbon project stays in the hands of local Aboriginal people, Indigenous led and owned.
“This is a project for our grandchildren, it needs to be controlled by our mob so that it benefits our mob – this is about caring for our country over the next 25-100 years – it is for future generations, not us.”
ICIN is talking with Indigenous groups about how their rights to ‘blue carbon’ are currently recognised, and what the current opportunities and risks are for Indigenous groups looking for a way to recognise the value of their work caring for sea country. To inform these conversations, ICIN published a discussion paper, which can be found here.
This work is being funded through the National Environmental Science Program in partnership with Charles Darwin University, the University of Queensland and NAILSMA. We recently secured some additional funds through the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to develop an animation about blue carbon, which is in development.
ICIN is organising an Indigenous blue carbon conversation workshop in Cairns during September. To find out more, please contact Gen Schulz [email protected]
