Indigenous nation building for environmental futures: Murrundi flows through Ngarrindjeri country

Water colonialism and Indigenous water justice in south-eastern Australia

“…Indigenous water justice is part of broader struggles for environmental and social justice, self-determination and sovereignty (Curley, 2019a;Estes, 2019;Hemming et al, 2019;Nikolakis et al, 2016;Prieto, 2016;Sam & Armstrong, 2013;Walkem, 2006;Wilson, 2020;Yazzie, 2013). Advocates and scholars argue for responses informed by Indigenous perspectives and priorities (McLean, 2007;Taylor et al, 2016;Weir, 2009;Wilson, 2020).…”

“…First Nation leaders, advocates and supporters have fought for the recognition and respect of their inherent rights and interests in land and waters in the MDB (Hemming et al, 2019(Hemming et al, , 2007Jackson et al, 2021). The pursuit of water rights has seen First Nations alliances emerge first in the south with the Murray-Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) in 1998, followed by the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN) in 2011.…”

“…Water and water places are crucial to Indigenous peoples' spirituality, well-being, livelihoods and identities, and their aspirations for self-determination span cultural, political and socioeconomic dimensions (Robison et al, 2018). Water is an essential element in complex attachments to place and the reciprocal, ethical relations that bind people and their territories (Te Aho, 2010;Bates, 2017;Hemming et al, 2019). In many societies, water is an animate being, sometimes described as mother or the lifeblood of a territory (Anderson et al, 2019;Yates et al, 2017).…”

Is investment in Indigenous land and sea management going to the right places to provide multiple co-benefits?

“…In Australia, Indigenous peoples engage in ILSM with multiple stakeholders (governments, scientists, producer groups, conservationists, philanthropists and others) through a range of mechanisms: formal government-supported natural resource management (NRM) projects (Roughley and Williams 2007); Indigenous and co-managed protected areas (Muller 2003;Ross et al 2009); endangered species initiatives (Nursey-Bray 2009); water planning processes (Jackson and Altman 2009;Hemming et al 2019;Jackson and Moggridge 2019;Jackson and Nias 2019;Moggridge, Betterridge, and Thompson 2019;Mooney and Cullen 2019;Poelina, Taylor, and Perdrisat 2019;Williams, Connolly, and Williams 2019); and the pursuit of cultural objectives conventionally undertaken in the absence of non-Indigenous actors (La Fontaine 2006). ILSM was first identified as an important area for investment by governments in the mid-1980s because it provided motivation for Indigenous peoples, and offered opportunities for work that extended into remote regions, where formal labour markets were often poorly developed or non-existent (Miller 1985;Rowse 2002;Johnston et al 2007).…”

Indigenous Water Management

“…Support from the MDBA has been essential to the success of both confederations that represent Aboriginal nations of the southern and northern basin (MLDRIN and the Northern Basins Aboriginal Nations (NBAN)). Three articles in this collection speak directly to the issue of nation-building, institutional capacity and self-determination in water governance (Hemming et al 2019;Poelina et al 2019;and Mooney and Cullen, 2019). In the article by Hemming et al (2019), the authors make the important and often overlooked point that Aboriginal nations have distinctly political goals when they engage in water policy development and protection or restoration of country.…”