ABSTRACT

Aboriginal representative organisations collaborated with the Murray Darling Basin Authority to develop the Aboriginal Waterways Assessment (AWA) tool. We consider the AWA as part of an evolving toolkit of methodologies designed to elevate First Nations’ objectives in water planning, in the context of national water reform and implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. We describe the adaptation of the AWA from an approach developed in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Maori Cultural Health Index for Streams and Waterways. We review the delivery and outcomes of seven AWA projects undertaken in Victoria between 2017 and 2018, demonstrating that the AWA is an effective and culturally safe mechanism for First Nations to document water-related values and influence waterway management. The article identifies improvements in water management resulting from the use of data generated through AWA projects, as well as project outcomes at the individual and broader political scale, including the social benefits of First Nations’ data collection and the importance of data sovereignty. We highlight the value of waterway assessments undertaken by First Nations as a tool to address their widespread exclusion from water planning and management.

摘要

土著代表组织与墨累达令河流域管理局合作开发了土著水道评估（AWA）工具。我们认为，在国家水改革和《墨累达令盆地计划》实施的背景下，AWA是旨在提高原住民水计划目标的方法论工具包的一部分。我们从Aotearoa /新西兰开发的方法，溪流和水道的毛利文化健康指数中描述了AWA的改编。我们回顾了2017年至2018年在维多利亚州进行的七个AWA项目的交付和成果，表明AWA是原住民记录与水有关的价值并影响水路管理的有效且文化上安全的机制。本文指出了使用AWA项目生成的数据所带来的水资源管理方面的改进，以及个人和更广泛政治规模的项目成果，包括原住民数据收集的社会效益和数据主权的重要性。我们强调原住民进行水路评估的价值，将其作为解决其被广泛排除在水规划和管理之外的工具。