Bringing Knowledge Systems Together: Environmental Accounting on Angkamuthi Country

Bringing Knowledge Systems Together: Environmental Accounting on Angkamuthi Country

This webinar will share learnings from the ISEAL Innovations Fund project, Nature data that can meet the needs of Indigenous Peoples and regulators and fit within Voluntary Sustainability Standards, led by Accounting for Nature in partnership with Angkamuthi Tribal Aboriginal Corporation, Ecotec Environmental and the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative.

Representatives from Angkamuthi Tribal Aboriginal Corporation and project partners will share experiences from developing an Environmental Account for Angkamuthi Country in northern Cape York, Australia. The project is exploring how environmental accounting can support the assessment of fauna condition at landscape scale in a region facing pressures from tourism, overfishing, mining and exploration.

Working within the Accounting for Nature® Framework, the project is piloting approaches to support Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), protect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), and appropriately recognise Traditional Owner ecological knowledge alongside scientific data. It is also exploring how environmental information can be developed in ways that respect Traditional Owners’ rights, knowledge and priorities.

The webinar will examine the practical realities of this work, including the time, logistics, overlapping land tenures and authorisations involved in establishing an Environmental Account. Speakers will discuss the challenges, lessons and opportunities emerging from the project, and what these mean for voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), project teams and funders seeking to support respectful partnerships, culturally appropriate processes and credible environmental information on Indigenous-managed Country.

Presenters: Representatives from Angkamuthi Tribal Aboriginal Corporation, Accounting for Nature, the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative and Ecotec Environmental.

Funding acknowledgement: This project was made possible thanks to a grant from the ISEAL Innovations Fund awarded to Accounting for Nature in partnership with the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, which is supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO and UK International Development from the UK government.