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Issue 292: July 2022

Indigenous-led science

Welcome to this month’s issue of ECOS.

July was a huge month for celebrating Indigenous-led science at CSIRO. This started with NAIDOC Week, running from 3 to 10 July, with the theme Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

This month, we celebrated two years since the release of Our Knowledge our Way (OKOW). The trailblazing, collaborative guidelines provide best-practice approaches to empowering Indigenous people to lead and partner in land and sea management.

The OKOW guidelines were a key tool in the project development of State of the Environment 2021 (SOE), a landmark report released last week. This month’s ECOS edition features a series of SOE articles. While the SOE report findings are sobering, it’s important to recognise some key positive developments --namely, the Indigenous-led co-design of the report and prioritisation of Indigenous knowledge, alongside Western science.

Our researchers put the OKOW co-design principles into practice while on Country, working with Indigenous peoples to find responsible ways to use digital technology to solve complex environmental challenges.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

Indigenous authors front and centre of latest State of Environment Report

For the first time, the five-yearly State of the Environment Report includes an entire Indigenous-led theme, Indigenous co-lead authors on most chapters, and Indigenous-specific case studies.

Two years of Our Knowledge, Our Way Guidelines

It’s been two years since the release of Our Knowledge Our Way in caring for Country. Since then, the Best Practice Guidelines have been used by government, industry, researchers and non-governmental organisations.

Indigenous voices key to managing the environment

Indigenous data, information and knowledge underpin the stewardship of Country by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is also essential for broader management of our environment, as underscored in the State of the Environment report.

State of the Environment report highlights pressures on our coasts, oceans

Our researchers have again played a major role in the latest State of the Environment report as lead authors on both the Marine and Coasts chapters. In a first for SoE reports, Indigenous knowledge and perspectives have been included, thanks to some of their work.

Lessons from disasters will help maintain Australia’s excellent air quality

CSIRO's leading research, as captured in the latest State of the Environment report, explores the vulnerability of our air quality to catastrophic events like bushfires, and improvements we can make to manage pollution in the face of increasing hazardous events.

A health check for our natural wealth

With the release of the latest scientific report card on the state of Australia’s environment, we look at the underpinning science tools that have enabled the assessment, and how they can support our environmental restoration efforts.