Reimagining the relationship between Gondwanan forests and Aboriginal land management in Australia's "Wet Tropics"

Patrick Roberts; Alice Buhrich; Victor Caetano-Andrade; Richard Cosgrove; Andrew Fairbairn; S Anna Florin; Nils Vanwezer; Nicole Boivin; Barry Hunter; Desley Mosquito; Gerry Turpin; Åsa Ferrier

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102190

Reimagining the relationship between Gondwanan forests and Aboriginal land management in Australia's "Wet Tropics"

iScience. 2021 Feb 16;24(3):102190. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102190. eCollection 2021 Mar 19.

Authors

Patrick Roberts^{1

2}, Alice Buhrich³, Victor Caetano-Andrade¹, Richard Cosgrove⁴, Andrew Fairbairn^{1

2

5}, S Anna Florin^{2

5}, Nils Vanwezer¹, Nicole Boivin^{1

2}, Barry Hunter⁶, Desley Mosquito⁷, Gerry Turpin^{8

9}, Åsa Ferrier⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany.
² School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
³ College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
⁴ Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
⁶ Djabugay Aboriginal Corporation, Kuranda, Australia.
⁷ Wabubadda Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, Jirrbal Aboriginal People, Atherton, Australia.
⁸ Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre, Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, McGregor Road, Smithfield, QLD 4879, Australia.
⁹ Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Science, Mount Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, Mount Cooth-tha Road, Toowong, QLD 4066, Australia.

Abstract

The "Wet Tropics" of Australia host a unique variety of plant lineages that trace their origins to the super-continent of Gondwanaland. While these "ancient" evolutionary records are rightly emphasized in current management of the region, multidisciplinary research and lobbying by Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples have also demonstrated the significance of the cultural heritage of the "Wet Tropics." Here, we evaluate the existing archeological, paleoenvironmental, and historical evidence to demonstrate the diverse ways in which these forests are globally significant, not only for their ecological heritage but also for their preservation of traces of millennia of anthropogenic activities, including active burning and food tree manipulation. We argue that detailed paleoecological, ethnobotanical, and archeological studies, working within the framework of growing national and world heritage initiatives and active application of traditional knowledge, offer the best opportunities for sustainable management of these unique environments in the face of increasingly catastrophic climate change and bushfires.

Keywords: Agricultural Science; Biological Sciences; Botany; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Resource; Environmental Science; Ethnobotany; Nature Conservation; Plant Biology; Plant Ecology.

Publication types

Review