Over the past decade, there has been increased international interest in understanding and recognizing the contribution of Indigenous natural and cultural resource management, including Indigenous ranger work, to the sustainable management of social-ecological systems. In Australia, Indigenous rangers are responsible for managing land and seas that represent approximately 44% of the national protected area estate. Governments and other coinvestors seek to evaluate this ranger work and its contribution to biodiversity conservation and other public goods. However, current monitoring and evaluation approaches are based in conceptions of value and benefits and do not capture the full range of contributions and meanings associated with this work. We present an empirical case study from northern Australia in which we explore how to properly account for the full complexity and richness of Indigenous ranger work. We demonstrate that the work of being an Indigenous ranger at a Yolŋu (Indigenous people of Northeast Arnhem Land) land and sea management organization, (the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation or Dhimurru), can be understood as three sets of knowledge practices: the practices of “knowing and being known by Yolŋu country;” the practices of “mobilizing the Dhimurru Vision Statement;” and, the practices of “being ralpa” (Ralpa is a Yolŋu concept that means being willing to work and prepared to take on leadership responsibilities.) We contend that these knowledge practices represent criteria for judging the effectiveness of Yolŋu ranger work. The Dhimurru knowledge community of senior Yolŋu landowners and their collaborators, judge the effectiveness of Yolŋu ranger work based on whether Yolŋu rangers demonstrate these practices. By integrating such criteria into Dhimurru’s formal monitoring and evaluation processes endorsed by its government funding partners, Dhimurru can more effectively and fully demonstrate the contribution of Yolŋu rangers to the Yolŋu vision for ecologically and culturally sustainable management of the Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area in the Northern Territory as part of Australia’s national conservation estate.

中文翻译：

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解释澳大利亚Dhimurru土著保护区的Yolŋu护林员工作

在过去的十年中，国际社会对理解和认识到土著自然和文化资源管理，包括土著护林员工作，对社会生态系统的可持续管理所做出的贡献，引起了越来越多的国际关注。在澳大利亚，土著护林员负责管理陆地和海洋，这些土地和海洋约占国家保护区遗产的44％。各国政府和其他共同投资者试图评估这种护林员的工作及其对生物多样性保护和其他公共物品的贡献。但是，当前的监视和评估方法是基于价值和收益的概念，并未涵盖与这项工作相关的全部贡献和含义。我们提供了一个来自澳大利亚北部的经验案例研究，其中我们探讨了如何适当考虑土著护林员工作的全部复杂性和丰富性。我们证明，在Yolŋu（阿纳姆东北部土著人民）陆地和海洋管理组织（Dhimurru原住民公司或Dhimurru）担任土著游侠的工作可以理解为三套知识实践：“知道并被Yolŋu的国家所了解；” “动员《 Dhimurru愿景声明》的做法”；以及“成为拉尔帕”的实践（拉尔帕是一个约鲁ŋ的概念，表示愿意工作并准备承担领导职责。）我们认为，这些知识实践代表了判断约鲁range护林员工作有效性的标准。高级Yolŋu地主及其合作者的Dhimurru知识社区根据Yolŋu护林员是否展示了这些做法来判断Yolŋu护林员工作的有效性。通过将这些标准纳入政府资助伙伴认可的Dhimurru正式监测和评估程序中，Dhimurru可以更有效，更充分地展示Yol Yu护林员对Yol Yu愿景对北领地Dhimurru土著保护区的生态和文化可持续管理的贡献作为澳大利亚国家保护遗产的一部分。