Nature Conservation and Indigenous Knowledge

Australia has been home to numerous Aboriginal communities consisting of distinct cultural beliefs and languages, along with deep spiritual knowledge of the environment that has allowed them to build up the sustained development of the world’s oldest continuing culture. The study of Aboriginal meteorology involves the information and knowledge regarding the environment and weather, such as the knowledge of plant and animal cycles, intensive connections within the natural world and so on, recorded within the cultural practices and social values. And for passing such knowledge to younger generations, they use the Dreamtime or dreaming stories that talk about creation, and explain how natural elements were formed, or how the species came into being. These stories also tell of the knowledge of hunting locations, animal behaviours, and the restrictions or the laws related to a particular species or region. These stories mostly incorporate crucial information on geography, meteorology, and biology. Although the practice of Indigenous storytelling or the Dreaming is mostly administered through Indigenous art, interviews, children’s literature, videos etc., it has not yet been completely incorporated within the literature related to nature conservation and on-ground practices. This paper intends to probe into the possibilities of the Indigenous land and sea management knowledge that has been passed on to them through the Dreamtime stories in combating with the present era of environmental degradation. It also tries to delve into the urgency of the proliferation of such holistic cultural values for nature conservation and sustainable development.