Great Barrier Reef Traditional Owners seek improved approaches to formalise recognition and acknowledgment of custodial rights and interests in the management of the Reef. In 2018 the Great Barrier Reef Foundation embarked on an ambitious program under the Reef Trust Partnership Agreement with Traditional Owners to deliver actions that create more robust processes and generate the step-change needed for inclusive governance and management of the Reef, including delivering co-benefits. Three key decisions enabled Traditional Owner work to stand strong, and position strategically for systems change at a scale and complexity that has not been attempted before within the Great Barrier Reef region 1—allocating a minimum of 10% of Partnership funds to a dedicated Traditional Owner Program provided $51.8 million 2. Elevating the voices and contributions of Traditional Owners’ lived experience as a central co-design pillar for targeted delivery that directly meets the needs of Traditional Owners, and 3—establishing a Traditional Owner Futures Fund – providing a sustainable investment mechanism. These decisions create conditions that facilitate a Traditional Owner governance framework across the Partnership, commence a genuine co-design process with Traditional Owners, support on-ground Reef protection outcomes, and deliver positive impacts over the life of the Partnership and beyond.
Director, Traditional Owner Partnerships, Great Barrier Reef Foundation Liz Wren and her team wish to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Owners’ continuing management and custodianship of the Great Barrier Reef. This includes rich cultures, heritage values, enduring connections, and contributions to the ongoing care for and management of the Great Barrier Reef past, present, and future.
Special thanks to Traditional Owners that work and have worked with the Foundation as part of the co-design governance arrangements under the Reef Trust Partnership, sharing insightful leadership, passion, commitment, drive, and lived experiences: Larissa Hale Yuku Baja Muliku; Manuwuri Traceylee Forester Lama Lama & Nywaigi; Gavin Singleton Yirrganydji; Malcolm Mann Darumbal; Chrissy Grant Kuku Yalanji Jalun Warra & Mualgal/Kubin; Dr. Cass Hunter Kuku Yalanji & Maluiligal; Scott Anderson Nywaigi; Gail Barry Eastern Kuku Yalanji; Samarla Deshong Koinmerburra & Kabi Kabi; Malachi Johnson Gooreng-Gooreng; Bob Muir Woppaburra; Brian Singleton Yirrganydji; Dawn Harrigan Kuku Yalanji; Kenny Bedford Erub; Ben Gertz Gugu-Badhun; Jade Gould Woppaburra & Butchulla; Dennis Ah-Kee Wanjuru-Yidinjii. With extended thanks to Anna Marsden, Managing Director, and Theresa Fyffe, Executive Director, Great Barrier Reef Foundation for their leadership and vision in agreement making, which established an important precedent - ten percent of overall Reef Trust Partnership funding dedicated to Traditional Owners, and for showing up as genuine partners to Traditional Owners of the Reef through a co-design process.
We would also like to acknowledge investment in this program from the Australian Government as part of the Reef Trust Partnership.