Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
6.4 Holistic marine management: indigenous systems and
contemporary marine management
While the ecosystem approach is still a new concept in contemporary resource management,
and particularly in the context of the marine and coastal environment, it is intrinsic to most
indigenous approaches. For communities depending on and managing the resources of the
sea, the ecosystem approach is not anything new, although the term 'ecosystem approach'
may not have previously been used to describe their actions. Indigenous environmental
knowledge and practice have been around for thousands of years, and have been effective in
meeting community and ecosystem goals. Thus, communities and their knowledge can have
a key role to play in application of the ecosystem approach.
Many indigenous communities have a holistic worldview that is based on the connec-
tionsbetweenalllivingthingsandtheirenvironment.Forexample,someindigenouspeoples
in Australia view the coastal landscape as an integrated cultural landscape/seascape where
no distinction is made between land and sea. Barber (
2005
) provides the following descrip-
tion of Blue Mud Bay in the Northern Territory: 'In Blue Mud Bay, much of daily life and
activities occur in the context of the flow of water, from freshwater rivers which flow into
the increasingly salty water of the sea, and the seasonal cycles of rain and storms. These, in
turn, affect the life cycles of species both on sea and land that provide food for the Abori-
ginal communities of Blue Mud Bay. The environments of the land and sea, their seasonal-
ity, flows and the animal and human communities that they support are all interrelated, and
viewed in a holistic manner by the inhabitants of the area.' This understanding of intricate
relationships in a geographical area is the basis of the ecosystem approach as it is described
in international conventions, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.
A similar understanding of water flows, the ecosystems and species they support, as
well as the human communities that depend on them, is the basis for the native Hawaiian
conceptof
ahupua'a
.
Ahupua'a
wasappliedtosections oflandthatextendedfromthemoun-
tain summits down through fertile valleys to the outer edge of the reef and into the deep
