Professor Donna Craig
Research Projects
Current Research
A. Development of Ethical Protocols for Cross-Cultural Biodiversity Research and Benefit-Sharing with Indigenous Peoples
This project is reviewing the wide range of national, international and Indigenous research guidelines, protocols, case studies and experiences to identify protocols and urgent priorities that need to be addressed. It has received funding of $90,000 from the Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s Development Fund. This project was initiated by Chris Jones (a PhD candidate supervised by Professor Donna Craig) and the grant proposal was jointly developed by Donna and Chris. Professor Craig is the Principal Investigator and the grant is administered by MU-CEL and Warawara.
A fundamental feature of this project is the central involvement of Indigenous communities in the formulation and authentication of the developing models of ethical protocols.
This project draws together researchers from across at least 10 disciplines and departments throughout Macquarie University as well as their linkages with national and international Indigenous and environmental organisations. The first Indigenous Workshop was conducted in Northern NSW in October 2004 after extensive Indigenous consultations.
In April 2004, an International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting co-hosted by the Association for Baha'i Studies Australia and Macquarie University 's Warawara, (Department of Indigenous Studies), MU-CEL, the Department of Health and Chiropractic, the Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources; the Department of Biological Sciences and the Chemistry Department was held at the Macquarie campus. Several academic members of staff from the University were involved in this important international event and presented papers and participated on expert panels. Those proceeding will be an important contribution to the project.
B. Murray Darling Basin Indigenous Action Plan: Project to Identify and Assess Existing Models, Strategies, Processes and Mechanisms that are Suitable Benchmarks for Best Practices in Indigenous Engagement within the Murray-Darling Basin.
(Project Directors were Professor Donna Craig and Ms Susan Shearing in conjunction with the Macquarie University Centre for Environmental Law and funded by the Murray Darling Basin Commission)
In May 2002, the MDBC decided to develop an Action Plan for advancing this engagement of Indigenous peoples. The MDBC has developed an MOU with the Murray-Darling Indigenous Nations (MDRIN). MDRIN is a confederation of traditional owner groups, each with responsibilities unique to their territory in the Murray and Darling River valleys and that are recognised under traditional laws and customs as having a spiritual, cultural and physical connection and responsibility for caring for homelands within their traditional boundaries.
Enabling components for Indigenous engagement in developing the MDBC Indigenous Action Plan have been identified as follows
- Models for best practice.
- Indigenous knowledge management.
- Demographic profile of the Indigenous Nations of the Basin.
- Governance, leadership and investment in Indigenous Nations.
- Natural resource management resources in investment in Indigenous Nations.
These enabling components were developed by the researchers under the direction of the MDBC and with the fully informed consent of Indigenous peoples. The Models of Best Practice, co-authored by Professor Craig and Susan Shearing are about to be published by the MDBC.
C. Christensen Fund
Indigenous Governance of Natural Resources within Melanesia : A Project to Develop Legal Capacity-Building Strengthening Community-Based Institutions, Customary Laws and Environmental Management Approaches
(Proposal Submitted for funding, Project Directors are Professors Donna Craig and Michael Jeffery and Macquarie University Centre for Environmental Law)
The problem to be addressed by this project is the lack of legal resources (in the form of background information, case study reports, and examples and analyses of legal frameworks) to assist Melanesian stakeholders participating in community-based environmental management initiatives. This participatory research project will draw upon local and international specialists in collecting, distilling and disseminating lessons learned within the countries of Vanuatu , Fiji and Papua New Guinea about legal reform in support of community-based and customary environmental management. It will enhance the capacity for appropriate efficient and effective self-governance of Melanesian indigenous peoples and focus on the role of customary law.
D. Developing Effective Institutions for Sustainable Indigenous Economic Development in Central Australia .
Professor Craig is one of two Principal Investigators in a successful grant application submitted to Northern Territory Research Innovation Fund. This was a joint submission by Charles Darwin University (CDU), CSIRO and the Desert Knowledge Co-operative Research Centre (DK-CRC) on Developing Effective Institutions for Sustainable Indigenous Economic Development in Central Australia. The funding approved in December 2004 is for $591,200 over 3 years commencing in February 2005.
The offer of funding specifically acknowledges that Professor Craig holds academic positions at both Charles Darwin and Macquarie Universities .
This project will promote interdisciplinary and intercultural research and supervisory capacity in central Australia applied to economic development issues on Indigenous held lands in order to:
- Enhance enterprise development and livelihoods in sustainable natural and cultural resource management.
- Support effective engagement with emerging markets for ecological and cultural services.
- Generate growth in the central Australian training, education and knowledge brokering service economy.
Supplemental funding applications are being prepared and it is expected that this project could attract approximately $1,000,000 over 3 years.
In addition, Professor Craig's application for a full-time PhD scholarship to the Northern Territory Innovation Board to support a candidate to work under her supervision, on an aspect this wider project was successful. Ms Jane Walker was awarded the scholarship (worth approximately $100,000 over three years) and her PhD research will be on Indicators for Monitoring Conservation and Aboriginal Cultural Outcomes from Land.
E. Traditional Knowledge/Intellectual Property Scoping Project
(Project Director is Sonia Smallacombe, (CDU), funded by Desert Knowledge CRC)
This project aims to bridge the gap between what is happening at the local level and the policies being developed at the national and international level in regards to Traditional Knowledge by:
1. Exploring ways of strengthening Desert Knowledge CRC structures, processes and mechanism for recognizing and protecting Indigenous traditional knowledge, and ensuring Indigenous communities share equally in any benefits arising from the wider use of their knowledge systems.
2. Examining measures for protection and appropriate sharing of Indigenous traditional knowledge at the community level including:
- Protocols, codes of ethics and guidelines;
- Private law-making, including contracts and agreements;
- Prior informed consent mechanisms in international standard setting, Indigenous rights, community level case studies and best practice models.
F. The Development of Protocols and Systems for the Recognition, Protection and the Utilisation of Indigenous Cultural Knowledge, Innovations and Practices for Aboriginal Communities in Central Australia .
(Project Director is Siobhan McDonald, Central Land Council, funded by Desert Knowledge CRC)
There are critical issues to be examined concerning the recognition, protection, and wider utilisation of Aboriginal cultural knowledge, innovations and practices in the central Australian desert region. An essential element of this is to explore the relationships between Indigenous cultural knowledge, innovations and practices, and the conventional western intellectual property rights (IPR) system. The Central Land Council has undertaken a collaborative project to draft a series of detailed Aboriginal community protocols and a research code of ethics in consultation with central Australian Aboriginal communities.
They will form the foundations for the development of innovative measures, such as contracts and agreements, for equitable access and benefit-sharing arrangements. This project involved detailed consultation with Aboriginal communities within the Central Australian region. In this sense it will be a community-informed research project. The outcomes from the project will be a best practice set of Aboriginal community protocols, guidelines codes of ethics, and key elements for framework agreements for equitable benefit-sharing arrangements.
G. Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Cultural Knowledge in the Management of Inland Waters
(Project Director is Naomi Rea, CDU, and has Desert Knowledge CRC funding and funding from Land and Water Australia )
This project demonstrates cultural values through case studies that:
1. develop methodologies to record, convey and store traditional knowledge;
2. investigate avenues for combining traditional and scientific knowledge in management processes, and,
3. build capacity and methodologies for combining western and traditional knowledge.
It will produce a benchmark document based on international treaties, agreements, national legislation, contracts and "Best Practice" that establishes the basis for recognition of Indigenous values and rights to inland waters.
The project also explores how customary practices and rights can be maintained through agreements and natural resource management processes, and how Indigenous people can better participate in decision-making and make economic gain from water.
H.Recognising Indigenous Water Rights and Values in Structure, Process and Legislation in the Northern Territory
(Project Director is Naomi Rea, CDU, funded by Desert Knowledge CRC and Land and Water Australia ).
A critical step in having Indigenous rights to water recognised is understanding ‘primary’ cultural values e.g. spiritual connection, traditional ecological knowledge and governance of water, and the significance of surface and groundwater dependent ecosystems to cultural identity. ‘Secondary’ cultural values can be described as those associated with equal access to water for domestic use and economic gain. Acceptance of these values, and rights, into contemporary water management involves 3 streams of research.
Firstly, working with Indigenous people and providing traineeships to record, store and convey knowledge in appropriate formats that also demonstrates to the wider community the immense depth of understanding and connections to water that lies at the heart of Indigenous culture. Secondly, determining existing Indigenous rights through examining international and domestic law and management processes. Precedents set down through negotiated agreements across the globe will also assist in finding mechanisms to achieve better outcomes. Lastly, for all partners to work closely with Government to find ways for values and rights to be better recognised and incorporated into government structures and process that may include legislative reform.
I. Participatory Research and Community Development
(Project Leader is Metta Young, Centre for Appropriate Technology, funded by Desert Knowledge CRC).
This project will further the development of employment/livelihood pathways for local desert people in research and in activities with potentially similar skills needs, notably government and industry consultations with remote communities. It will explore and develop principles and mechanisms to engender and sustain capacity building for participatory research and community/organisation development, particularly in the Alice Springs region with transferability to other desert regions at later stages.
J. Rockefeller Foundation
Ms Aroha Mead and Professor Craig were foundation members of an international initiative by Indigenous Peoples to define and develop their own appropriate forms and cultural property and to develop knowledge bases and research to support them.
The "Call of the Earth Circle " was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation for three years (US$500,000). In 2003 Professor Craig was invited to convene the part of the organization known as the "Circle of Friends", thereby making the Steering Committee entirely Indigenous. She continues her role in developing the knowledge base and research with "Call of the Earth Circle ."
Additional Research Proposals and Related Activities
Professor Craig is currently developing research proposals in the following areas:
A. Indigenous Co-management of Protected Areas and Natural Resources: Recognition and Implementation of Customary Law.
Indigenous co-management of lands, waters, seas and resources is rapidly expanding throughout the world. The most highly regarded models have been developed in Australia and Canada . However, fundamental conflicts and issues relating to Indigenous rights have often been ignored. It cannot be assumed that conservation and managerial agendas will be the same as the aspirations of Indigenous owners. Indigenous roles will vary depending on whether co-management is part of self-government negotiations, or more limited agendas related to conservation, sustainable resource management or mainstream planning and development frameworks. Further research is required to consider the viability of sui generis systems of co-management which gives more explicit recognition to customary laws. Professor Craig will undertake research on these issues in relation to the new Northern Territory joint management legislation and frameworks using selected case studies.
B. A Review of Indigenous Framework Agreements and Constitutional Developments to Develop a Central Australian Framework Agreement
This project will consider Indigenous governance in the context of Northern Territory proposals for statehood and comparative experience with Indigenous regional governance agreements for lands, seas, water and natural resources.
C. Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Forest Certification
Certification is a method by which consumers can assure themselves that products they buy are produced in accordance with ethical and environmentally sustainable practices. The Forest Stewardship Council has developed a set of principles and criteria for that purpose. Included in those principles and criteria is Principle 3 which requires forest companies to recognize and respect the legal and customary rights of Indigenous peoples in the lands and territories of those peoples. The criteria for Principle 3 set out how that recognition and respect is to be judged. The World Conservation Union's Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-CEL) has entered into an MOU with the Forest Stewardship Council to develop this aspect of the Forest Certification Principles. As Co-convener of the IUCN Specialist Group on Indigenous Rights and Environmental Law, Professor Donna Craig, together with Professor Michael Jeffery, will be developing project proposals in this area.