Investor aspirations for Indigenous land and sea management in Australia

B. J. Austin*, C. J. Robinson, M. Tofa, S. T. Garnett

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Partnerships between Indigenous peoples and non-local investors have been the source of significant innovation in environmental management across the globe. Indigenous land and sea management in Australia is a growing economic sector that has been used to create jobs, training and income in remote Indigenous Australia. While the aspirations of Indigenous people for Indigenous land and sea management have been reported widely, the aspirations of non-local investors are less clear. In this article, we present an analysis of the aspirations of investors and, in so doing, seek to strengthen partnerships between Indigenous peoples and investors globally. There can be an implicit assumption that investment in the sector is purely to achieve biophysical outcomes, such as increased protection of biodiversity in key bioregions. Our analysis suggests that this is partly true, though significantly underestimates the willingness of investors to contribute to the realisation of social, economic and cultural benefits. Based on these results, we offer two recommendations for advancing Indigenous land and sea manager-investor partnerships: (1) investors should identify and clearly communicate their aspirations for entering partnerships, and (2) Indigenous peoples should be supported to develop clear protocols for investment in their land sea management programmes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)156-172
Number of pages17
JournalAustralasian Journal of Environmental Management
Volume26
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Apr 2019

Keywords

  • corporate social responsibility
  • investment
  • multiple benefits
  • natural resource management
  • social license

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investor aspirations for Indigenous land and sea management in Australia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this