This paper presents a two-stage optimization approach that involves linear integer programming models in each stage for determining optimal expansion alternatives for the Cape Floristic Region conservation areas in South Africa, with an emphasis on the protection of mammal species. While determining the optimal expansion areas, the following spatial and ecological criteria are taken into account: (i) a spatial connectivity of individual reserves, (ii) a minimum population of each species in each designated reserve, and (iii) an overall minimum population target for each species. We also aim for optimum economic efficiency by minimizing the total expansion area. The data set includes about 4000 candidate reserve sites and 38 species of large and medium-sized mammals. Empirical results indicate that the integer programming models can be solved without serious computational difficulty and the optimal reserve design provides substantial savings in financial resources.

Water management in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin is undergoing a highly-contested shift from single use management for irrigation, to multiple use management for irrigation and environmental flows. Despite a requirement to 'take account' of Indigenous values, multiple use management does not yet include cultural flows - water flows for Aboriginal groups to maintain Indigenous cultural values. Within the economics literature, cultural values are treated as a passive 'use' of place for spiritual or cultural activities, with cultural flows framed as flows of water delivered to particular sites for cultural 'uses'. Aboriginal groups, however, argue for cultural flows to be defined in terms of water entitlements - a property right to water. Property rights have evolved within a specific historic and cultural context, and reflect a Western ontology that is very different to Aboriginal ontologies. This article explores whether a property rights construct might be compatible with Aboriginal ontologies, and whether water entitlements could deliver cultural benefits in ways hoped for by Aboriginal peoples. We find that cultural flows need to extend beyond rights to flows of water to encompass a broader bundle of rights including management and governance rights, if Aboriginal groups are to obtain beneficial cultural outcomes from those flows.

Indigenous self-determination, land rights and caring for Country programs are enabling Indigenous peoples across the world to re-establish customary roles in biodiversity conservation and cultural fire management. In Australia, Indigenous-controlled lands form the majority of the protected area estate, harbour almost 60% of listed threatened species and maintain high levels of biodiversity. This study used cross-cultural (Indigenous and Western academic) methods to monitor the impact of Indigenous cultural burning v. wildfire on the threatened plant, Backwater grevillea (Grevillea scortechinii subsp. sarmentosa). Cultural burning resulted in lower mature grevillea mortality and less impact on reproductive output than wildfire. Both fires stimulated a mass germination but the cultural burn preserved a multi-aged population while the wildfire killed 99.6% of mature shrubs. Comparison of fuel load changes resulting from cultural burning, hazard reduction burning and wildfire indicated that fuel loads were reduced by all fire treatments, although the cultural burn was less severe than other fires. Our case study of the Backwater grevillea and its Banbai custodians provides an example where Indigenous rangers have adopted a plant into their cultural management framework. They are conserving this threatened species using culturally driven, holistic management that is locally focused and supported by cross-cultural knowledge.

Indigenous knowledge emphasises the importance of cultural connections between humans and the biophysical world. In the face of threats to the maintenance and transfer of Indigenous knowledge, novel approaches such as seasonal calendars are emerging as tools to share knowledge and guide management of natural and cultural resources. The renewal of Indigenous cultural fire management in southeast Australia provided an opportunity to explore whether the co-production of a fire and seasons calendar, using Western and Indigenous knowledges, can support cultural fire management. We present a case study of cross-cultural collaboration between scientists and the Banbai Aboriginal rangers at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area, New South Wales. We reviewed literature from various disciplines (archaeological, ethnohistorical, Indigenous and ecological) and undertook participatory action research and interviews to collate relevant information. This was synthesised in Winba = Fire, the Banbai Fire and Seasons Calendar, which is used by the Banbai rangers to guide cultural burning, share cross-cultural knowledge and increase awareness of Indigenous cultural fire management. The process of co-producing knowledge, revitalising culture, caring for Country, working together and supporting self-determination is relevant for many Indigenous communities around the world.

Cultural flows are water allocations to Aboriginal groups to maintain cultural values. Economic frameworks treat cultural values as sites or places where 'cultural activities' take place. A cultural flow is then a discretionary allocation of water to 'water' those sites, in the same way that water is delivered to irrigators to water their crops. This water allocation framework, in which environmental, irrigation or cultural values are traded off in a zero-sum game, is grounded in economic and legal frameworks that treat spiritual, environmental, economic and social values as separate and unconnected value domains. In contrast, within Aboriginal ontology each value domain is inherently connected, and cannot be traded off against the others. Interpreting cultural beliefs as akin to a recreational activity ignores the relationship between cultural belief and Aboriginal economic and social organisation. We use a case study of the Narran Lakes area of NSW to explore the relationship between cultural beliefs and the way in which Country was managed under cultural law. Understanding this relationship is important in the economic analysis of cultural flows.

Australia’s rangeland communities, industries, and environment are under increasing pressures from anthropogenic activities and global changes more broadly. We conducted a horizon scan to identify and prioritise key challenges facing Australian rangelands and their communities, and outline possible avenues to address these challenges, with a particular focus on research priorities. We surveyed participants of the Australian Rangeland Society 20th Biennial Conference, held in Canberra in September 2019, before the conference and in interactive workshops during the conference, in order to identify key challenges, potential solutions, and research priorities. The feedback was broadly grouped into six themes associated with supporting local communities, managing natural capital, climate variability and change, traditional knowledge, governance, and research and development. Each theme had several sub-themes and potential solutions to ensure positive, long-term outcomes for the rangelands. The survey responses made it clear that supporting ‘resilient and sustainable rangelands that provide cultural, societal, environmental and economic outcomes simultaneously’ is of great value to stakeholders. The synthesis of survey responses combined with expert knowledge highlighted that sustaining local communities in the long term will require that the inherent social, cultural and natural capital of rangelands are managed sustainably, particularly in light of current and projected variability in climate. Establishment of guidelines and approaches to address these challenges will benefit from: (i) an increased recognition of the value and contributions of traditional knowledge and practices; (ii) development of better governance that is guided by and benefits local stakeholders; and (iii) more funding to conduct and implement strong research and development activities, with research focused on addressing critical knowledge gaps as identified by the local stakeholders. This requires strong governance with legislation and policies that work for the rangelands. We provide a framework that indicates the key knowledge gaps and how innovations may be implemented and scaled out, up and deep to achieve the resilience of Australia’s rangelands. The same principles could be adapted to address challenges in rangelands on other continents, with similar beneficial outcomes.

Indigenous cultural fire management is being recognised and revived across Australia, primarily in the centre and across the north. To explore the benefits of contemporary cultural fire management in southeast Australia and barriers to its revival, we undertook a systematic analysis of the literature. Seventy documented applications of cultural fire management projects were found with the potential for significant upscaling. Over the last decade, eight policies related to Indigenous fire management have been developed by state and territory governments in southeast Australia, with varying levels of implementation. Seventy-eight benefits and 22 barriers were identified in relation to cultural fire management. In the cases where cultural fire management has been successfully reinstated as an ongoing practice, Indigenous leadership, extraordinary relationships, strong agreements and transformational change were identified as drivers of success. For cultural fire management to grow, more funding, policy implementation, long-term commitment, Indigenous control and decision making, mentoring, training and research are required. Several areas of research could facilitate the expansion of cultural fire management and be applied in similar contexts globally, including Africa and the Americas. While Indigenous voices are increasingly represented in the literature, it is imperative that mutually beneficial and respectful partnerships are developed in the cross-cultural interface of landscape fire management.

Globally, Indigenous cultural burning has been practiced for millennia, although colonization limited Indigenous people’s ability to access and manage their ancestral lands. Recently, recognition of Indigenous fire management has been increasing, leading to the re-emergence of cultural burning in Australia, the Americas, parts of Asia and Africa. We describe how the Banbai people of south-eastern Australia have reintroduced cultural burning at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area. Our team of Banbai Rangers and non-Indigenous scientists conducted cross-cultural research to investigate the impact of burning on a cultural keystone species, the Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). Our comparison of the effects of a low-intensity, patchy, cultural fire in the Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area to a nearby higher intensity fire in Warra National Park through a Before-After-Control-Impact assessment indicated that the higher intensity fire reduced echidna foraging activity, possibly to avoid predation. Most importantly, we describe a cross-cultural research model whereby Indigenous rangers and non-Indigenous scientists work together to inform adaptive natural and cultural resource management. Such trans-disciplinary and collaborative research strengthens informed conservation decision-making and the social-ecological resilience of communities.

A challenge for all universities in Australia is how to engage, and importantly, retain Aboriginal students. It can be tempting to think that addressing that challenge primarily concerns services, support and content. However, that response views the point of adaptation in the student. Academics also need to adapt and evolve if their relationship with Aboriginal students is to be improved and be embracing of how an alternative world view may enhance their own and hence their teaching. Much has been written on what constitutes decolonisation in education and how to achieve it, often involving an Indigenous voice. Less has been written on the personal transition required to realise decolonised practice so that what is experienced by all is inclusive and meaningful. This concerns what the colonisers need to do to bring about change in themselves. To explore this issue, a shared self-reflective dialogue is presented between an academic and a government scientist who have each been transformed by their experience of working with Aboriginal people. Over the structured discussion, a number of threshold concepts come to light that need to be embraced as fundamental elements on the journey to decolonisation. The work is purposefully self-reflective so that others can share the direct feedback we have had from working closely with Aboriginal people in Australia.

Connecting people with nature improves well-being, but how people connect with natural places is not well documented. We asked 43 people (19 Aboriginal Australians, 24 non-Aboriginal people) about the messages they received from Country during an interactive experience in the remote Mungo National Park, Australia, and analysed the physical senses, emotions and cognitive processes they mentioned. The physical senses mentioned by most respondents were sight, hearing and motion (particularly walking). These senses helped people receive messages from Country and connect with place. We used the primary-process emotional systems of Panksepp [2010. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 12 (4), 533-545] as a framework to capture the emotional dimension of experience. Most people reported positive emotions; they spoke about being nurtured by the group and the land (CARE), and the intense joy (PLAY) of being part of the community, being on Country and being accompanied by Aboriginal people. However, our results indicate the framework does not capture the breadth of positive emotions, particularly those associated with connection to place and spiritual experiences. Both groups mentioned cognitive processes reflecting their beliefs, existing knowledge, or sharing and acquiring new knowledge. Our results indicate that the emotional dimension of experience has the potential to measure connection to place, and provide a subjective measure of well-being. More research is needed to document this dimension of experience, and how it changes with context. Our case study provides further insight for those who manage protected areas and seek to enrich the experience of visitors.

This thesis examines the dynamics of regional Aboriginal behaviour in northwest central Queensland as it is indicated by several scales of spatial patterning in archaeological evidence. Using geographic information system (GIS) analysis and multivariate statistical techniques, patterns in the distribution of archaeological features were derived using a combination of two spatial scales and three levels of archaeological feature classification. The two spatial scales comprise analysis performed for the entire region and more detailed analysis performed within two smaller areas within the region. The classificatory scales include modelling the distribution of locations containing archaeological features; modelling the types of features occurring at these locations; and modelling spatial variation in the attributes of these features. For example, at two different spatial scales, models are presented for the location of places containing any type of archaeological feature; for the location of places containing stone artefacts; and for locations containing stone artefacts made from various rock types. In addition, point pattern analysis is used to examine patterns in the distribution of different rock art figures and spatial variation in the form of one particular type of figure. The results of this study illustrate that several levels of spatial patterning can be identified in northwest central Queensland. Specifically, these reveal that at the regional level, the occurrence of locations containing archaeological features is primarily driven by proximity to water. However, the types of features occurring at these locations is driven by a multitude of other factors, such as proximity to stone raw materials, stream order, terrain, and geology. Importantly, the way these factors combine varies throughout the region. For example, in one part of the region, the most important factor determining the location and type of archaeological features is the location of outcrops suitable for manufacturing stone axes. In contrast, in another part of the region, the important factors become proximity to escarpment areas that produce places suitable for depicting rock art. In addition, analysis of the distribution of rock art figures shows that the depiction of different types of figure demonstrates a northeast to southwest trend, corresponding to trends in regional drainage, and consequently, the movement of people into and out of the region. In contrast, the variation in the form of one particular figure demonstrates spatial patterns that trend northwest to southeast, relating to the movement and information flow between people within the region. The thesis argues that these results demonstrate patterns in behaviour operating on several different levels. Some of the archaeological patterns discerned correspond with levels of behaviour described anthropologically, such as the extent of linguistic groups, or descriptions of foraging behaviour. However, other archaeological spatial patterns do not fit into such anthropological classifications of hunter-gatherer behaviour quite so easily. Consequently, it is argued that the recognition of archaeological pattern, and its behavioural interpretations, is dependent upon the spatial, temporal, and categorical scale at which they are examined. In doing so, the thesis illustrates that understanding the dynamics of regional hunter-gatherer behaviour requires an understanding of the factors driving archaeological pattern occurring at a variety of scales, and across a range of evidence. The thesis suggests that scale is therefore a critical, but little explored component of archaeological theory generally, and which has important implications for the understanding archaeologists have of Australia's prehistory, and particularly interpretations relating to mid-Holocene change. It is also argued that the study demonstrates how useful GIS and statistical modelling approaches are for visualising the trends and variation in archaeological spatial pattern occurring at the regional level. Such tools offer potential benefits to the research and management of Aboriginal cultural heritage.

It has become well established that minute quantities of organic matter can be extracted from rock paints and dated using radiocarbon methods. Many of these dates have been used to suggest the antiquity of painting. This has lead to discrepancies emerging between these dates and rock art chronologies determined using other dating techniques. Some researchers are now questioning how accurately the age of a painting can be determined by measuring the radiocarbon age of its organic contents. It was the proposition of this thesis that the analysis of prehistoric rock paints requires a greater emphasis on understanding the organic environment of a painting. It is believed that this would promote an understanding of the origin and history of substances found within rock paints. Specific organic substances could then be extracted and isolated from the paints for the purpose of radiocarbon dating, the age of these substances being more easily argued as having a similar antiquity as the act of painting. This study was a baseline study, establishing that organic matter was present in the paints, that the amount of organic matter could be quantified and that different types of organic matter could be identified in different paints. An important aspect of this thesis was also to investigate the organic content of materials associated with the paintings, and the act of painting. Thus the organic composition of the supporting rock substrate, mineral skins forming on the rock surface and an ochre pigment source were also investigated. Analysis of the paints' organic environment in the Selwyn region shows that sufficient organic material for radiocarbon dating was present in several paints that did not utilise a charcoal-based pigment. Importantly, it was also demonstrated that the organic material in these paints can have a multitude of origins. This implies that methods which seek to radiocarbon date the entire organic content of a paint, are not accurate indicators of a painting's age. The resulting radiocarbon measurement will be an average of the different history of each organic substance, and is unlikely to reflect the actual antiquity of the painting. This thesis concluded by suggesting that the analysis of the organic environment of rock paints is an equally important aspect of dating paintings, as the dating itself. It is suggested that the adoption of a methodology that seeks to characterise the organic composition of rock paints, before radiocarbon dating is considered, will lead to better approaches to determining the age of rock paintings by using their organic constituents.