Supporting Traditional Custodians to Secure Free Prior and Informed Consent in the Wet Tropics

The Wet Tropics of Queensland is a rainforest dominated region that has been occupied, used and enjoyed by Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples (RAP) for millennia. RAP traditional custodians have created a biocultural landscape; one where the region’s biodiversity and its long history of human management of Country are deeply intertwined. Despite this deep connection, the 1988 listing of the Wet Tropics as a World Heritage Area (WHA) for its natural values completely ignored RAP traditional rights, responsibilities and relationships to the region. This sparked over 30 years of struggle for traditional custodian interests to be recognised and respected so that RAP may resurrect their influence over direct management and decisions that affect their Country. Since 1988 there has been significant progress in a range of legislative, policy and program developments across Australia and Queensland that have firmed up explicit RAP rights to land, water, sea Country and cultural resources. Most notable of these have been the introduction of the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993, the Queensland Aboriginal Land Act 1991, and legislation protecting Indigenous cultural heritage including Queensland’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003. Three other societal trends further consolidate a stronger basis for RAP involvement in regional decision making. These include: (i) the increased legislative expectation for greater engagement of Indigenous communities; (ii) the increasing emergence of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) accounting in many private and not-for-profit sector corporations; and despite its limitations (iii) the growth of Reconciliation Action Planning within public and private sector institutions.As a result of this statutory progress and societal trends, the concept or expectation has firmly emerged across Australia that decision making processes for proposed activities that may impact the rights and interests of traditional custodians should be subject to their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Of explicit importance to the WHA is that FPIC principles are recognised globally via the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). Consequently, the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s (WTMA) Wet Tropics Strategic Plan (Strategy 2) commits WTMA to “increase implementation of rights-based approaches … address relevant articles of the UNDRIP … and use FPIC processes”. These foundations establish higher expectations of FPIC being applied in the planning and management decisions taken by all parties involved in the WHA.As part of RAP’s journey towards resolving the inequities created by the initial exclusion of their interests in the listing of the WHA and consequent planning and management decision making, there are now five regional-scale RAP-led processes that are emerging that seek to redress these historical inequities.