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nesp.northern@cdu.edu.aunespnorthern.edu.auThis research was supported through funding from the AustralianGovernment’s National Environmental Research Program. 
Call for case studies to develop 
Our Knowledge, Our Way 
Guidelines 
nesp.northern@cdu.edu.aunespnorthern.edu.auThis research was supported through funding from the AustralianGovernment’s National Environmental Research Program. 
Call for case studies to develop 
Our Knowledge, Our Way 
Guidelines 
A new set of guidelines, Our Knowledge, Our 
Way Guidelines, are being developed as a 
resource for Indigenous land managers to 
learn from others about issues and options 
for bringing Indigenous knowledge into 
environmental management and economic 
development. A secondary audience for the 
guidelines is the partners of Indigenous land 
managers, including those in co-management 
arrangements. 

The development of the guidelines is 
Indigenous-driven. The North Australian 
Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance 
(NAILSMA) and CSIRO have received funding 
from the Australian Government’s National 
Environmental Science Program and the project 
team is being guided by an Indigenous-majority 
Steering Group. The Australian Committee of 
the International Union for the Conservation 
of Nature (ACIUCN) is supporting the project 
through the engagement of its national networks 
and facilitating international exposure when 
completed. 


Why are these guidelines important? 

Indigenous peoples have responsibility for 
management of large areas of land and sea 
across Australia. They also hold an enormous 
stake in ensuring a sustainable future for 
their communities and natural and cultural 
environments. Indigenous land managers draw 
on their knowledge to make management 
decisions on a daily basis, including running 
businesses and enterprises based on natural 
resources. There is also increasing interest 
from non-Indigenous people in Indigenous 
knowledge as a management tool. The way 
in which knowledges are shared is therefore 
important. 

We seek your help in understanding 
what ‘our knowledge, our way’ 
means 

To inform these guidelines, the project team 
is seeking case studies from across the 
country. These case studies will be used to 
help highlight what Indigenous groups believe 
have worked for them. The guidelines will be 
created by combining the case studies with 
background information on the importance of 
‘our knowledge, our way’, how knowledge is 
being recognised and used in Australia and 
internationally, and potential policy that can 
support ‘our knowledge, our way’. It is expected 
that draft guidelines will be available in 2019. 

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Background to Our Knowledge, Our Way Guidelines 

The project ‘Knowledge brokering for Indigenous 
land management’ seeks to support improved 
Indigenous land management and decision-
making. The project is co-led between CSIRO 
and NAILSMA. Together, these organisations 
design and test culturally tailored knowledge 
brokering methods and tools, and facilitate 
the sharing of these through a pan-northern 
Indigenous knowledge network. 

The project is governed through a Steering 
Committee made up of representatives from 
Indigenous organisations across northern 

Australia. The Steering Committee decided 
that the development of knowledge brokering 
guidelines, developed by and for Indigenous land 
managers, could be a useful tool for supporting 
Indigenous knowledge to be applied in land and 
sea management, alongside science and other 
knowledge. The ACIUCN was approached, and 
together the decision was made to create a set 
of guidelines, Our Knowledge Our Way, that 
aligned with an ongoing series of other ACIUCN 
guidelines (see www.iucn.org/theme/species/ 
publications/guidelines). 


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