The North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance

The North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA) is an Indigenous led not-for-profit company operating across north and other parts of remote Australia.

NAILSMA supports Indigenous people to sustainably manage their country for future generations and has a long history of facilitating large-scale and complex projects.

These projects combine science and research, Indigenous knowledge and practical support to achieve results that meet, cultural, environmental, educational and economic benefits for Indigenous people.

Over the past 10 years NAILSMA has worked with communities to increase their capacity to engage in targeted research and project partnerships to improve skills locally and directly address community-articulated priorities for management of country.

As experts in the Indigenous land and sea management sector NAILSMA is one of the main partners in the WCE initiative. A key role is to identify opportunities for remote Indigenous students and adult learners to participate in higher education, specifically related to land and sea management.

NAILSMA activities, such as sea ranger programs, focus on areas where universal Indigenous interest, diverse employment opportunities and exciting future prospects abound.

These projects use a participatory action research approach to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge and expertise and ensure the project is community driven and supports local training and education priorities.

Two current NAILSMA WCE projects

Trail of the Certificate III in Indigenous Land Management in the Northern Territory

NAILSMA is working with Maningrida and Yirrkala communities to identify and trial the delivery of selected units sourced from the nationally accredited Certificate III in Indigenous Land Management, not currently available in the NT.

The units to be delivered are focused around the recognition of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) within a western education framework that will identify and support pathways in land and sea management, leadership, science and education.

Each of the pilot trial sites will include cross cutting themes and learnings that will be of benefit not only to the participating communities, but all Indigenous land and sea managers interested in further training and education opportunities and higher education pathways.

Coastal livelihoods, inter-tidal zones, shellfish and the future

As part of an investigation into the inter-tidal zone NAILSMA is working with Galiwin’ku Learning on Country Program (LoCP) that includes the Shepherdson College middle school classes’ Ŋuykal (trevally), Dhawulŋaniŋ (dolphin), Garraŋunuŋ (hammer head) and Baṉumbirr (morning star).

There is a strong focus on recognising the importance and interdependence of biological, linguistic and cultural diversity as essential parts of education for the next generation.

This project provides a window into higher learning and career paths directly and indirectly related to land and sea management.

For further information on these and other research project visit the NAILSMA website