Caring for Country is a climate solution

As the oldest surviving cultures on this planet, First Nations peoples are our original scientists and our most experienced caretakers. Over millennia they have cultivated a dedicated practice of nurturing the earth. Given this truth, it makes absolute sense that in this critical climate decade we turn to their leadership and knowledge.

Jess Bineth in conversation with Lille Madden and Tishiko King

Lille Madden on Western Arrernte Country. Photo: Arielle Gamble

“Wherever we are on the land, we are on Country. It's important to always remember that,” Lille Madden says as we begin our conversation over Zoom. She’s in Mparntwe, not far from home on Northern Arrernte Country. “As you slowly travel to the centre of the country, you can see where the land slowly turns red. So I kind of see it as going to where my heart is.” She’s also a Bundjalung and Kalkadoon woman and grew up on Gadigal land. 

I’ve jumped online to speak to Lille and Tishiko King, who make up Groundswell’s First Nations team, about the Caring for Country grant round they’ve recently launched; an initiative supporting Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Islander people working towards climate justice. Tish is from the Island of Masig, Kulkalgal Nation. She’s currently on Naarm as a guest of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. 

We begin by talking about what it means to care for Country, something at the heart of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing and doing. “Country is not just the physical world we walk on, it's everything around us. It’s the water that runs through our rivers, the plants and animals that live and breathe the same air we breathe. The sky and winds and stars,” says Lille. 

In this way, Country is not generalised or a specific place one might speak of like ‘driving through the country’ or ‘spending the weekend in the country.’ To hear Lille and Tish speak of Country is to understand it as a living entity with a consciousness, a history, a future. “It’s who we are. Our landscape and sea Country. It’s our food, our shelter, our culture. Our whole life and stories and history. Without it we couldn't be us,” says Tish.

This is inherent to First Nations identity, but it’s true for all of us. Rock, tree, star, banana, caterpillar, human. We are all made of the same fundamental substances. This places us in the middle of a beautifully complex relationship of reliance with all living things. “My Aunty MK Turner says ‘we are the land, the land is us, and that is how we hold the land.’ I think for non-Indigenous people, this is a new way of thinking. But it's the thinking we need,” says Lille. 

We have so much to learn. Under the care of First Nations people this country thrived for 65, 000 years. Then came European settlement and in just 250 years the environment has been so degraded by western land and water management that Australia now ranks as number one in the world for mammal extinction and number two for biodiversity loss.

“We’ve cared for this place for tens of thousands of years, and because of this knowledge we’re still here today. But for the last 200 years we’ve not been listened to. This climate crisis is a result of not caring for Country,” says Lille.

Tishiko King on Ngurra Country. Photo: Josh Howlett.

Today, Indigenous people make up less than 5% of the global population but they look after 80% of the earth’s biodiversity. This custodianship is overlooked as an essential solution to mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, yet it’s chronically underfunded. Which is why Groundwell has created the Caring for Country grant round. 

“This grant is by mob, for mob. It's led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, knowing our emissions here impact our neighbouring brothers and sisters in the Pacific Island nations as well. Given how diverse this region is, I love how this grant allows diasporic groups to be included,” says Tish.

Because there is no silver bullet when it comes to solving the climate crisis, the grant supports groups who are protecting our environment in many different ways. From preventing the expansion of fossil fuel projects, to land and sea management and preserving language and culture – this is about letting those who hold the knowledge for living a more integrated life with the environment lead the way.

“We're the ones who know our Country best and so it’s about letting mob lead in this space. And that's what the family supporting our work are doing, which is really great. This grant round supports First Nations people to lead and creates space for others to follow.” says Lille. This is especially important when you consider that climate change will not impact us all equally and those who are most affected by this crisis have done the least amount to cause it.

“The people of Masig don't contribute to global emissions, yet it’s our sea level that is rising, it’s our island that is disappearing. Because we are losing land I have had to go and pick up the bones of my ancestors so they don’t wash away. This is what we need to talk about, this deeper injustice,” says Tish.

There are certainly reparations to be made. But more broadly, Western scientific expertise alone will not get us out of this mess and our global political systems have proven seriously limited in what they’ve been able to achieve so far. We’re all inheriting the same crisis and there can be no safe climate future for any of us without climate justice. 

“This country, our islands, are so magical and diverse and need to be cared for in particular ways. Climate justice means having First Nations people at the table, sharing this knowledge, sharing our stories. Climate justice also means having this understanding embedded in legislation,” says Tish.

At this point, in what scientists are calling the critical decade, we need to do everything we can to minimise the worst impacts of climate change. The good news is the knowledge for how to do this already exists. In this way, supporting and resourcing First Nations people to continue to care for and protect Country is a fundamental and urgent climate solution.

“With Country, you give one thing and you get it back tenfold. If we care for Country, it will continue to care for us,” says Lille.

Groundswell’s Caring For Country grant round is proudly supported by the Eisen Family Private Fund.