HEALTHY WATER FORUM 2022

^{Story created by Our Reef Stories and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.}

Now in its third year, the Healthy Water Program creates a vehicle for Traditional Owners to implement, lead and receive funding for Healthy Water projects across the Great Barrier Reef and its Catchments. The program has funded 22 Traditional Owner groups, running 27 Healthy Water Projects with almost $6M in funding. The benefits have been wide-ranging and invaluable – from protection and healing of land and sea Country, to intergenerational knowledge transfer, youth engagement, leadership empowerment and much more.

Healthy Water Forum

A significant milestone for the program was the inaugural Healthy Water Forum, held in Cairns in August 2022. The forum created a unique and beneficial opportunity to bring Traditional Owners together to share their experiences, aspirations, hopes and frustrations for healthy water on their Country. Co-designed by Traditional Owners for Traditional Owners, forum attendees identified the critical actions needed for government, funders and stakeholders to establish meaningful and productive partnerships – with real outcomes – for Traditional Owners and water. It also established that these actions should be based on a holistic understanding of how to look after Country.

“Don’t walk in front, don’t walk behind, walk beside.”

— Jacob Cassady, Nywaigi Traditional Owner

Much of the success of the forum can be credited to the inviting, open and honest environment created by the Traditional Owner-led team. It allowed for incredible levels of trust, engagement and interaction where everyone felt free to be themselves and to be heard and appreciated by their peers.

“It created a safe space to share knowledge, provide feedback and free-flowing advice.”

— Healthy Water Forum attendee

The forum featured updates from Traditional Owner groups on how they’ve been using their Healthy Water grants and the positive impacts they’ve had on both their Country and communities. The forum also set the stage for developing a vision for the future – through knowledge sharing around what’s working, what’s not and how the various Traditional Owner groups can learn from each other.

Critically, several key themes and messages emerged as priorities:

• Traditional Owners want strong partnerships with government and other water quality stakeholders
• Traditional Owners need and deserve a seat at the decision-making table to drive water priorities
• There’s a strong need for better pathways to determine and secure cultural water rights and ownership
• Establishing Traditional Owner partnerships, authority and control over water management
• Water connects us, water is life
• Water is Country – if Country is sick then people are sick
• People need healthy water
• Healthy water is a holistic concept and must be the heart of our work

“All the work done today says to me that what is going on down south is going on in the north. We’re all in the same boat.”

— Alwyn Lyall, Thaypan Traditional Owner

The group updates focused on a diverse range of objectives including social, cultural, environmental and those around water quality:

• Development of water quality monitoring and planning based on cultural values and indicators
• Encourage intergenerational knowledge sharing and youth engagement
• Skills development through on-ground training and learning
• Development of leadership, governance and administration skills to build sustainable organisations
• Baseline surveys and assessments and subsequent water quality monitoring
• Address the lack of Traditional Owner-sourced water quality data in Reef Catchments
• Focus on Traditional Owners taking ownership of water monitoring to inform their decision-making on Country
• Increase species monitoring, including culturally important indicator species and invasive species
• Developing plans to manage Country into the future, including several restoration, rehabilitation and weed control management projects

“With most grants, Traditional Owners are engaged but often only as a tick and flick on the boxes. When we designed these grants, we knew mob will look at Country in a holistic way. Mob doesn’t break Country down into segments.”

— Dr Cass Hunter, Kuku Yalanji and Maluiligal Traditional Owner

The way forward

During the Healthy Water Forum, deep discussions were held on how Traditional Owners can be better positioned in key Great Barrier Reef water quality planning processes – including the Scientific Consensus Statement and Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan.

 At the time of the forum, these plans were under review and the Healthy Water Technical Working Group was engaging with the review teams to drastically improve Traditional Owner input into these opportunities.  

Both documents provide a foundation for water quality investment decisions, however there was little to no Traditional Owner input into their development. As a result, Traditional Owner perspectives, concerns and values have not been reflected within them.

This lack of Traditional Owner presence prevents funding from being directed towards Traditional Owner-led projects and management. The Technical Working Group has been working hard to address these barriers and ensure that future policies open up opportunities for Traditional Owners to drive holistic, culturally-informed approaches to water quality improvement.

Traditional Owner voices

As the Healthy Water Program continues to progress, having Traditional Owners lead the way is critical.

“Water management must be tailored by Traditional Owners for Traditional Owners. Too often we’ve had Western management do it their way and try to tell us the best way to manage sea Country. It’s important to know it’s our Country, we’re symbiotic to our Country. Without us, it’s out of balance. It’s now time for Traditional Owners to become sole operators of what we are managing. Country is our first teacher. She teaches us everything we need to know. She tells us to take over because we know how to work with Country, not just on it.”

— Malachi Johnson, Gooreng-Gooreng Traditional Owner

“We need our voices to be heard, not just listened to. We need to be putting the right people in the right places. Make sure there is the right capacity-building happening.”

— Ben Gertz, Gugu-Badhun and Ngadjon-ji Traditional Owner

“We’re keen on making more partnerships with some of our station owners around us. We need to have a good working relationship with those guys. Connecting with government organisations in our area. Meaningful partnerships which lead to having a real voice, so we can be heard.”

— Alywn Lyall, Thaypan Traditional Owner

The Healthy Water Statement

A key outcome of the first Healthy Water Forum was the development of the Healthy Water Statement, collaboratively written by a group of five forum attendees, the Healthy Water Technical Working Group and the Traditional Owner Advisory Group. The statement outlines key actions that will put Traditional Owners at the centre of water quality improvement efforts across the Great Barrier Reef.

Looking ahead

As the various Healthy Water projects continue to progress and wrap up, a main priority is ensuring that the key messages and actions identified at the Healthy Water Forum are being synthesised and delivered to key partners. The positive momentum created also informed the planning of the next forum to maximise outcomes for Traditional Owners and their land and sea Country.

Through Traditional Owner-led forums like this, the ongoing opportunity for networking, peer-to-peer exchange and development of leadership skills will continue to benefit Traditional Owners and the entire land and sea Country ecosystem. Equally, forum outcomes benefit non-Indigenous stakeholders, create stronger partnerships, and improve Traditional Owner involvement in the Great Barrier Reef water quality space.