​Australia and world biodiversity

I was pleased to read in the Age a week or so ago that ancient knowledge about seasons, plants and animals of the Daly River area in NT is seeing the light of day on the global scene.
The traditional owners of Ngan’gikurunggur (Daly River area) in collaboration with CSIRO, identify 15 distinct seasons based on the interactions between the inhabitants and the diverse plants and animals of their lands. This knowledge is providing a background text for policy makers at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Colombia this year.
Sadly the policy makers still base decisions on relatively recent western science and, up to this point, have chosen not to listen to ancient wisdom gleaned from living with the land and the vagaries of climate over time. But at least the ancient knowledge from this one region may have some influence on the policy-making process even if simply to raise pertinent questions.

This beautiful bronze 'mandela' (with apologies to the Bininj and Mungguy people for probably inappropriate description) of the cycle of seasons of Kakadu. This featured at the entrance to the Warradjan Aboriginal cultural centre - an amazing centre packed with information. I simply couldn't absorb it all

We discovered similar local detailed knowledge about the seasons further north in NT in Kakadu and Arnhem Land, knowledge that drives land management practices by local indigenous peoples. We might really benefit from listening at a very critical level, the learning of the people who live on and by the land and the regionally-specific weather. One hopes!
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