Kakadu Research Strategy

The first Indigenous-led Research Strategy for Kakadu National Park was launched today. 

The Kakadu Research Strategy has been developed through an Indigenous-led project completed by the National Environmental Science Program’s Resilient Landscapes Hub in partnership with Parks Australia. 

The 10-year strategy directs what research will be undertaken in Kakadu to protect its unique environment and culture and how that research should be conducted. 

For 65,000 years the Bininj/Mungguy Traditional Owners’ continuing cultural connection to the land has allowed for the development of an intimate knowledge of Country handed down over a 1,000 generations. 

Ensuring Indigenous knowledge holders and the research community work closely together, the Kakadu Research Strategy will deliver enduring benefits for this extraordinary part of the world that is World Heritage-listed for both its natural and cultural values. 

This Indigenous-led strategy sets a course built on collaboration and mutual respect between science and Kakadu’s traditional ecological knowledge holders who belong to the oldest continuing culture on Earth. 

It will position Kakadu National Park as a leading example of two-way science over the next decade. Effective collaboration is crucial to prepare for the environmental challenges ahead, such as fire, feral animals, invasive weeds and sea level rise, which threaten Kakadu’s natural environment, including plants and wildlife found nowhere else, and its cultural values, including bush-tucker species and art sites. 

The Kakadu Research Strategy will guide the protection of park values while delivering benefits for Bininj/Mungguy including ensuring Indigenous custodians are guiding the research being undertaken on their land as well as providing training and employment pathways.