While there may be differences in the ways that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people understand the world, these differences can create opportunities to build strong relationships and find mutual benefit in overlapping interests. The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research in the Indigenous Initiatives theme has identified ways to make the most of those opportunities without losing sight of who we all are. This takes recognition, respect and trust.
CRC researchers have investigated Indigenous-driven interests and initiatives in building community resilience as a foundation for more effective relationships between communities and emergency management agencies.
The work was undertaken through Charles Darwin University in collaboration with the North Australian Land & Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) and the Aboriginal Research Practitioners Network (ARPNet – a collective of Indigenous community researchers).
The researchers identified the strengths and opportunities of Indigenous culture and society that are central to the future development of northern Australia, providing a basis for emergency management agencies to work with communities on respectful resilience measures in the face of fires, floods, cyclones and other hazards. A related project developed a training program that builds on the existing Indigenous ranger programs, with the added emphasis of increasing levels of competence and confidence and, in its turn, resilience.
Across southern Australia, researchers have identified areas for collaboration between Indigenous communities and the emergency management sector that reduce risk to natural hazards and increase social and ecological resilience. Some of these insights are shared in the video above.
This research in southern Australia also developed resources to help fire agencies and land management departments better understand cultural burning. The Cultural burning in southern Australia booklet and six accompanying posters bring together and uniquely present six diverse personal cultural burning experiences from across southern Australia. The stories showcase the diversity of this cultural practice and the common elements shared across Australia, and are accompanied by stunning illustrations.
Online tools
These online tools were developed with CRC research and are designed to be ready for use. The tools here have been curated for this Driving Change theme. See more tools in the other themes.
SAVANNA MONITORING AND EVALUATION REPORTING FRAMEWORK
This online tool evaluates the effects of fire where burnt area mapping is available across the Northern Territory, large parts of Western Australia, and Northern Queensland. It assesses nearly twenty years of data to show where bushfires have burnt, at what time of year (early or late dry season) and when an area was last burnt.
NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN REMOTE BUSHFIRE AND NATURAL HAZARDS TRAINING
This resource is a program of ten training units that provide practical support and reinforcement of capabilities in remote northern communities. The units interweave a set of philosophical and practical understandings of the management of landscapes for natural hazards in a changing climate, as well as the integration of Indigenous knowledge and experience with non-Indigenous approaches.
Before accessing this Dropbox page with the training units, 
download and read the training manual
CULTURAL BURNING IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA
These cultural burning in southern Australia resources were developed through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC project, Hazards, culture and Indigenous communities. These research-backed resources are to help fire agencies and land management departments better understand cultural burning.
The Cultural burning in southern Australia booklet and six accompanying posters bring together and uniquely present six diverse personal cultural burning experiences from across southern Australia. The stories showcase the diversity of this cultural practice and the common elements shared across Australia, and are accompanied with stunning illustrations.
Case studies
CRC research is driving change across communities, government and emergency service agencies, as highlighted by the case studies relevant to each Driving Change theme.
Highlights
This collection is a curation of the best and most recent news articles, Hazard Notes, videos, posters, guides, journal articles and reports relevant to this theme.
News
Resources
Publications
Projects
This selection of user-driven projects allows you to explore the detail of the research. These projects, spanning the eight years of the CRC, are especially relevant to this theme, but may appear within other themes as well.
