Conservation as development in Northern Australia: from policies to ethnography

Abstract

IntroductionSince the mid-1990s, “ranger” jobs, groups and programs have been established in many indigenous communities of Northern Australia.“Rangers” form a new category of Aboriginal social actors who are employed and paid to deliver environmental services through their activities that are generally described as “natural (and cultural) resource management”.Their role is presented as based on the formalisation and professionalisation of “traditional” responsibilities towards the land and the sea referred to as “caring for country”.Since their creation, ranger jobs, groups and programs have become a major focus of economic policies for indigenous people in Northern Australia and beyond.These policies can be described, using Paige West’s expression (West 2006 : xii), as “conservation-as-development” policies since they assume that environmental conservation can induce economic development for indigenous peoples, especially in remote areas.Researchers with a background in the social or environmental sciences have contributed to developing and articulating these policies, that are presented as the result of a bottom-up approach. Through their influence, they have brought the Australian State into adopting these policies. In the last few years, the federal government’s Working on Country program which is part of the national environmental Caring for Our Country initiative has indeed funded a few hundreds of ranger jobs. However, the consequences of this State funding for ranger [...]