L&SMU Operation

The Land and Sea Management Unit undertakes dual roles of assisting Traditional Owners to undertake practical activities on their land and sea country, and planning and developing strategies to ensure continued strong engagement of Kimberley Aboriginal people in the future of the region.

This involves provision of direct assistance to on-country projects, and a strategic role in assisting Traditional Owner aspirations for the region as a whole.

Strategic Plan

The L+SMU is currently in the process of developing and adopting a formal Strategic Plan.  Based on consultations with Traditional Owners and other stakeholders, the Strategic Plan will be based around a mission statement which includes assisting the community to be empowered to keep country and culture healthy, generate positive social, economic, environmental, and cultural outcomes, and maintain strong connection to country for future generations.

Goals
The Goals of the L+SU are:

• To preserve, maintain, protect, and pass on to future generations, indigenous traditional knowledge and practice
• To promote, protect, and maintain a healthy Kimberley ecological, geographical, cultural, and social environment
• To promote and facilitate positive outcomes for the lives of Kimberley Aboriginal people, in relation to utilization and anagement of country

In achieving these goals, the L&SMU will facilitate:

• Practical, managerial, and policy level engagement of Kimberley Aboriginal people in caring for country
• Conservation of Indigenous Traditional knowledge and practice
• Conservation of environmental, cultural, and heritage values
• Awareness-raising and education
• Development of and employment in natural resource-based enterprise
• Research, monitoring, and evaluation
• Capacity building, decision making, and governance
• Development of partnerships

Broad Roles and Activities

The L&SMU employs a number of staff across the Kimberley.  Many of these are engaged in direct Project Management.  However, all are engaged at varying levels in facilitating Traditional Owner engagement in planning for the unit as a whole.  Some staff also have a direct role in research and strategic planning to ensure that the aspirations of Traditional Owners are included in the bigger regional picture, and into the future.  To this extent, the Unit has a strong role in addition to the implementation of practical projects.

Please click here to view a diagram of the present Structure of the L&SMU.

Future Directions

The Unit is developing a more strategic role of providing co-ordination and management at a Kimberley-wide level, to assist Traditional Owners in implementing major co-ordinated strategies for land management, economic engagement, and social and cultural maintenance across the region.