A LEGACY PROJECT TO SHARE A NOONGAR APPROACH OF BUILDING ECO-LITERACY THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF THE LAND
Coolangkaar Boodja Wangkininy – Children Talking Country
The Eco-Literacy Through Language* program guides students to see that language comes from the land — that the sounds, rhythms, and stories of Country are interwoven through every Noongar word. This approach has been tested, with great success, in some of the schools across the Gondwana Link ecological pathway, under the guidance of a respected Noongar Elder, Aunty Carol Pettersen.
As WEEC’s Legacy project a guidebook (form and scale under discussion) will be brought together on how students can learn about land and the environment around them through language. It will also include stories and messages to the wider world from students in schools across the Gondwana Link pathway, about their experiences with their language and the land they live on. While many of these stories will involve the Noongar language, we will also be showing the global applicability of this approach through including students from a number of different countries who have used their original language the same way. The guidebook will, of course, include some very diverse examples of how different schools used the approach, as well as having a number of insights into south-western Australia, the host site for 13th WEEC.
While funded as a Legacy project from the Congress, it will also be presented as a gift to the Congress from students and the Noongar Elders they work with. Limited printed copies will be available so that delegates can take the stories and the approach back to their own countries. We will be encouraging students involved to compare notes across countries.
* Developed by Natalie Cordin and Aunty Carol Pettersen
GONDWANA LINK OVERALL SUMMARY
The Gondwana Link program addresses ecological degradation, mitigation of climate change impacts and rebuilding of social and cultural cohesion. It does this at a transformative scale.
The Gondwana Link ecological pathway stretches across 1,000kms of the globally recognised biodiversity hotspot that is south-western Australia. It spans the climate gradient from wet forests to semi-arid woodlands, is the southern area where we expect much wildlife to head due to global warming, includes most of the large areas of intact habitat remaining in south-western Australia, the majority of the localised biodiversity hotspots within south-western Australia and most of the more endangered wildlife species. They build on significant community based local environmental and landcare efforts, that span more than four decades, with the current focus being on restoring habitats in the key habitat gaps. The region was colonised almost 200 years ago, but the First Nation peoples have persisted and in recent years have begun actively regaining custodianship over areas of their land.
This initiative was launched in 2002 by seven local, national and international groups. A succinct overall strategy and more detailed plans for key areas was developed once implementation was well underway. They have now directly involved over 50 groups, businesses and institutions, with an operating structure that has evolved considerably to support and enable cost effective transformative change through a broad-based movement. To date, over A$126 million of private funding has been achieved for various projects aligned with their landscape goals. In addition, substantial public funding has been contributed, largely through group projects such as restoration plantings on the marginal and/or degraded properties secured with private funding. Currently over A$10 million of private funding for projects is being achieved each year, much of this for securing and restoring land. They pride themselves on being an extremely cost-effective effort, with minimal core operational costs. They want every dollar to make a difference on the ground.
Through their collective efforts, the 16 million ha Great Western Woodlands is now recognised as the largest remaining temperate woodland on earth, with substantial First Nations management in place and increasing. Over 30,000 ha of strategically placed private land has been secured in the habitat gaps, with over 15,200 ha of cleared land replanted ecologically, improving ecological connectivity between the public conservation estate by 30-40% in key areas. In addition to the specific achievements of this program, across the broad Gondwana Link geographic area there is also a wide spectrum of related community and government programs underway tackling specific issues, such as reducing the impact of invasive species.
There has been considerable technical improvement in ecological restoration techniques for cleared land, and monitoring has demonstrated the success of these improvements. Since 2002 over 115 refereed scientific papers and reports have been produced on aspects of the Gondwana Link program, along with a wide range of public communication material, a feature film and numerous short videos. They have provided active support and mentoring to programs elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand, as well as participating in a number of international workshops. Pilot programs are underway with the Global EcoHealth Network, to demonstrate public health and well-being benefits from environmental work, and they have a 15-month joint study with CSIRO, to examine 23 years of innovative management systems and titled ‘Bright spots in landscape-scale restoration’, has been finalised. The findings will be used to inform and support greater uptake of just, innovative and effective governance of interventions that drive large landscape restoration.
They core program has steadily increased its support for First Nations organisations and families. Over the last four years they have played a key role in establishing blended finance packages which have, so far, led to some 11,000 ha of freehold land being managed and restored by First Nation groups, with much of that area already owned, or soon to be owned, by those First Nation groups. A larger program is being developed in the eastern wheatbelt, with planting to commence in 2026, as part of an effort working towards integration of ecological restoration with large scale regenerative farming.
In 2021 they were acknowledged globally by UNEP as one of the #Founding50 programs for the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.
WHY NOT A CARBON OFFSET PROGRAM?
At 13th WEEC, we are committed to environmental responsibility — not just in principle, but in practice. While many events offer carbon offset programs, we have chosen a different path: a Legacy Project that invests directly in long-term environmental education.
Why not offsets?
We recognise that delegates will arrive in Perth from vastly different distances, using varied modes of transport, and will engage with the Congress in different ways. A standardised offset scheme would not fairly reflect these differences, nor would it ensure equitable contributions. Instead, every delegate’s registration includes support for the Legacy Project — a collective investment in initiatives that will continue to educate, inspire and empower communities well beyond the Congress itself. It is a tangible way to honour our shared commitment to sustainability and leave a lasting gift for future generations.