The effectiveness of agreements and protocols to bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous toolboxes for protected area management: a case study from the wet tropics of Queensland

Abstract

In the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA), protected areas impact on the rights and obligations of Indigenous traditional owners. This research investigated the effectiveness of two new policy instruments, a negotiated agreement, and a protocol, as mechanisms to bridge between the differing protected area management approaches of Kuku-Yalanji Aboriginal people and the WTWHA managers. The policy innovation sought from these instruments reflects a paradigm shift in protected areas globally toward a more inclusive approach, and recognition of diversity in governance types. However, the instruments' effectiveness in achieving innovation was hampered by the lack of substantive legal mechanisms to overcome the colonial legacy within protected areas. Legislative reform to properly recognize diversity in protected area governance would assist effective bridging. Internationally, rigorous criteria to measure progress toward a more inclusive approach in national systems would enhance our capacity to ensure the current paradigm shift becomes more than convenient rhetoric.