Northern Australia
GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE
Only by combining the best of traditional and modern
knowledge can communities hope to avoid severe ecological and economic disruption and adapt to future changes.
This project works with Aboriginal peoples of Northern Australia, documenting traditional knowledge and its relevance to climate change. It looks at proven techniques in coral restoration and demonstrates the capacity of indigenous people to adapt and survive in the face of great odds.
This project will focus attention on the extraordinary knowledge of the Arnhem Land aboriginals & Torres Straits islanders (the only two areas of Australia that have remained in native hands) and the value of this knowledge in the face of our shared global crisis. The project ties together the ancient traditions of aboriginal peoples, long-term observations of climate change from photography, scientific data, and unrecorded observations, and proposes strategies to protect and restore ecosystems that are severely threatened by global warming and sea level rise. The project will also prepare the first photographic database of long-term change in the entire Great Barrier Reef, initiating pilot projects in reef restoration at Mer in the Torres Straits and Millingimbi in Arnhem Land, and will measure the potential of tidal energy resources .
