Indigenous land and sea management programs: Can they promote regional development and help “close the (income) gap”?

Abstract

Throughout the world, there is growing recognition of the important role Indigenous people play in natural resource management and conservation. Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs; which provide funds to Indigenous people to support Indigenous land management activities) are also known to generate social and economic benefits, although relative few of these co-benefits have been quantified. Using northern Australia as a case study, we analysed data on ILSMP expenditure within three regional input-output tables, learning more about the size and distribution of their associated regional economic benefits. We found ILSMPs make a significant contribution to regional economies-with multipliers commonly exceeding that of other key regional industries such as agriculture and mining. We also found ILSMP expenditures make a larger contribution to Indigenous household incomes than they do to non-Indigenous incomes-thus helping to close the (income) gap. They will continue to do so, provided the proportion of ILSMP money spent on Indigenous (compared to non-Indigenous) incomes does not fall below a threshold amount.Rather than finding evidence of a trade-off between socioecological and financial/economic goals, our results suggest ILSMPs, known for their ecological importance, can also make a vitally important contribution to economic development in rural areas.Association.F I G U R E 1 Study area showing geographical areas covered by our three (adapted) I-O models, the location of organisations receiving ILSMP funding during 2014/15 and the main population centres. Boundaries of Daly River (NT) and Mitchell River (QLD) catchments also shown (we later compare our I-O multipliers with those generated from models developed for these regions). Map courtesy of Wolf Stoeckl

Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

“…Environmental, social and economic benefits of land management programs are many and accrue to many [5,16,24], but in this paper, we concentrate on benefits to Indigenous wellbeing. Different cultures conceptualise things differently [25]; so it is important that Indigenous peoples have the opportunity to conceptualise their own wellbeing.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on Big Data and Social Policy in Australia

“…All of these topics have been the focus of research published in the AJSI in recent years (e.g. Adams et al, 2020; Chesters, 2018; Christensen et al, 2021; Huang et al, 2016; Jarvis et al, 2018; Marks & Phillips, 2020; McDonald et al, 2019; O'Halloran et al, 2020; Perry et al, 2019; Peterie et al, 2020; Wilson et al, 2021; Zhou et al, 2019).…”

Are Indigenous land and sea management programs a pathway to Indigenous economic independence?

“…Previous research has found that ILSMPs create important employment opportunities for Indigenous people within remote communities (Altman et al 2007;Smyth 2011). ILSMPs have also been shown to contribute to the northern development agenda and help close the income gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Jarvis et al 2018), as well as generating other social, health, cultural and economic co-benefits (Garnett et al 2009;Roberts Evaluation 2015;Social Ventures Australia 2016;Barber and Jackson 2017;Larson et al 2018).…”