Oral Presentation World Lake Conference 2025

The Cultural value of Country and the Importance of Understanding Water Quality and Climate Change for Aboriginal People (#1)

Bradley Moggridge 1
  1. University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth yet is has been the traditional lands of its original inhabitants, Australia’s First Peoples (its Indigenous people), for at least 65,000 years. Protecting water landscapes (surface and ground water) and adapting to a changed climate places protecting values and knowledge as a high priority for Aboriginal people, and protecting Country remains a cultural obligation. As a response Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) committed to providing principles and additional guidance through a framework for developing water quality management plans that account for Indigenous cultural and spiritual values. In 2018 the Principles and Guidance for these values were published by Federal DCCEEW. Indigenous voices are becoming sort after across natural resource management, yet they have not become the norm for IPCC and Assessment Reports with climate change research or lead authors. Further presented here is collated scholarship led by Indigenous people on the impact of climate change.