Homo Nullius or `Where Have All the People Gone‘? Refiguring Marine Management and Conservation Approaches

Abstract

In Australia, much has been said and written about recent events which finally brought about the rejection of the Western legal concept of terra nullius. The legal recognition of native title in Australia and elsewhere, does not necessarily signify a corresponding and dramatic change in the social status and political position of indigenous peoples. This discontinuity between legal and social discourses is particularly evident when it comes to matters concerning conservation, resource management and sustainable development in a marine environment. All too often in these situations indigenous peoples are ignored and their concerns are dismissed as obstacles to development. They are, to all practical extents and purposes, homo nullius.Drawing upon a range of material from Indonesia and Australia, I argue that in order to understand the phenomenon of homo nullius it is instructive to examine the way we and others think, talk and write about such things as the sea, marine species and the indigenous peoples who possess and use these spaces and resources. In this connection, I focus upon two particular discourses which not only inform marine management and conservation approaches but which also have a tendency to create similar kinds of effects in terms of power, knowledge and agency.