Download Martu Living Deserts Project - The Nature Conservancy Australia

Social, Cultural and Economic Benefits
The Martu Living Deserts Project provides
significant employment opportunities for Martu to
look after their culture and country. KJ is the single
largest employer of Martu people and provides
permanent and casual employment opportunities
for in excess of 250 Martu.
The strong connections that remain between
Martu and their country provide a unique
opportunity to preserve comprehensive,
traditional knowledge of Martu culture and
heritage; leave a legacy of sustainability in
Australia; and achieve conservation success on a
truly global scale.
With support from BHPBIO and conservation
and capacity-building expertise from TNC, this
collaboration has provided a model that can be
replicated around the world. As opportunities for
creating sustainable landscapes within Indigenous
communities and elsewhere continue to arise,
this model is successfully demonstrating that
leveraging private investment in conservation can
lead to favourable outcomes for all.
Martu
Living Deserts
Project
Warrarnpa Kana
The Martu lands are part of the most intact arid
ecosystem anywhere on Earth and are home to
many of Australia’s most threatened species,
like the Greater Bilby, the Black-flanked Rockwallaby and the Brush-tailed Mulgara. These
lands also hold immense cultural significance
– extensive rock art and significant Jukurrpa
(dreaming) stories. Having lived on this country
for at least 5,000 years, the Martu people have
an immense depth of traditional knowledge.
Their management of country is central to the
ongoing survival of this vast and important arid
landscape.
Working with Martu to keep
people and country healthy
The Martu Living Deserts Project is a
conservation project of global significance
in a region of rich biodiversity.
Spanning an area twice the size of Tasmania,
the project assists the Martu people of the
Western Desert to continue their remarkable
connection to country. It combines modern
scientific land management with Indigenous
ecological knowledge.
A partnership between BHP Billiton Iron Ore
(BHPBIO), The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
and Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ), the project
conserves part of the world’s most intact
desert.
Men’s and women’s Martu ranger teams
are restoring traditional burning practices,
controlling feral animals, rehabilitating water
holes and protecting threatened species like
bilbies and rock-wallabies, with support from
scientists.
Martu culture is one of the world’s oldest.
For thousands of years, three of Australia’s
western deserts have evolved under the
stewardship of their Traditional Owners, the
Martu people. Their lands - or ‘country’include parts of the Great Sandy, Little Sandy
and Gibson Deserts.
BROOME
Jigalong
Punmu
Kunawarritji
Parnngurr
NEWMAN
M A R T U
L A N D S
PERTH
In 2013, working with the
Department of Parks and Wildlife,
26 Black-flanked Rock-wallabies
were translocated to re-establish a
population of this threatened species
within Martu country. By controlling
feral predators at this site, the rockwallabies are thriving which helps
reduce the risk of extinction of this
important species on Martu country.
Through the project, Martu people have
identified the things they value (or that are
important to them) on their country:
|| Martu traditional cultural and ecological
knowledge
|| Martu having livelihoods based on their
country and knowledge
|| Cultural sites
|| Threatened fauna such as small mammals
|| Waterholes and other water sources
|| Salt lake systems and claypans
|| Bush tucker traditionally harvested by Martu
These values are negatively impacted by a
number of threats:
|| Feral herbivores such as camels and donkeys
|| Altered fire regimes dominated by large hot
summer wildfires
|| Unauthorised tourist visitation
|| Inappropriate development impacting on
cultural and other values
|| Knowledge not being transferred to younger
generations
|| Feral predators such as cats
|| Invasive weeds
|| New unplanned roads
||
||
Martu no longer living on country
Climate change
How is the project helping to reduce
these threats?
The Project’s partners are working together to
ensure effective conservation, while balancing
Martu aspirations to look after their country and
harness economic development.
Through the Project the Martu rangers:
|| Manage feral herbivores and predators
|| Conduct cool season burns that are smaller
and less intense than hot summer wild fires
and result in a more diverse range of habitats
for threatened species
|| Clean waterholes
|| Help to protect threatened species
|| Engage tourists by checking permits and
giving presentations at major camping sites
on the Canning Stock Route
The Greater Bilby is one of Australia’s
most iconic threatened species with
some of the last strongholds
in the wild being found on Martu
country. Martu rangers are working
with desert scientists to understand
how threats such as feral predators
and altered fire regimes can be
managed to lessen their impact on
the Bilby’s survival.
Social, Cultural and Economic Benefits
The Martu Living Deserts Project provides
significant employment opportunities for Martu to
look after their culture and country. KJ is the single
largest employer of Martu people and provides
permanent and casual employment opportunities
for in excess of 250 Martu.
The strong connections that remain between
Martu and their country provide a unique
opportunity to preserve comprehensive,
traditional knowledge of Martu culture and
heritage; leave a legacy of sustainability in
Australia; and achieve conservation success on a
truly global scale.
With support from BHPBIO and conservation
and capacity-building expertise from TNC, this
collaboration has provided a model that can be
replicated around the world. As opportunities for
creating sustainable landscapes within Indigenous
communities and elsewhere continue to arise,
this model is successfully demonstrating that
leveraging private investment in conservation can
lead to favourable outcomes for all.
Martu
Living Deserts
Project
Warrarnpa Kana