Traditional Owners and Indigenous Partnerships
RRAP’s mission is to develop and test novel scientific solutions and make those available to managers to help the Great Barrier Reef and other coral reefs survive in the decades ahead, as global warming is gradually arrested.
These solutions will be developed and delivered in partnership with Traditional Owners, recognising their ancestral knowledge and the benefits of seeing the Great Barrier Reef as a cultural landscape beyond its biophysical features.
Indigenous Rangers from six Traditional Owner groups gathered on Heron Island on the southern Great Barrier Reef on Gooreng Gooreng, Gurang, Byelle and Taribelang Bunda land and sea Country to train in advanced reef restoration techniques developed through RRAP. © AIMS | Marie Roman
RRAP is part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Science (RRAS) component of the Reef Trust Partnership (RTP). This component is focused on restoring the Reef and helping it adapt to threats such as climate change through scientific interventions and processes. It also aims to create opportunities for Traditional Owners through education and development in RRAS programs, as well as employment in research and delivery roles such as scientists, technicians and researchers.
RRAP also collaborates closely with the dedicated Traditional Owner Reef Protection component of the RTP, which supports its own Traditional Owner Technical Working Group, and the Deadly Reef Ecological Adaptation Murri Scientists (DREAMS) team.
The Technical Working Group formed in 2020 to co-design fit-for-purpose Traditional Owner-led programs that contribute to the overall outcome of reef restoration and adaptation efforts.
RRAP also includes Traditional Owners as part of its formal governance arrangements, including the Board and Steering Committee.
Find Out More
- Traditional Owner Working Group – Great Barrier Reef Foundation
- What is Reef Restoration & Adaptation Science – Sharing the important and inspiring stories that are reframing our narrative
- A Journey of Change and Connection – Part 1 – Sharing the important and inspiring stories that are reframing our narrative.
Free Prior and Informed Consent
All RRAP activities on Sea Country occur only with the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of respective Traditional Owners.
This process is led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Indigenous Partnerships team and guided by the AIMS Indigenous Partnerships Policy. Activities are informed, respectful, and led through cultural authority. Ongoing dialogue, consent, and shared decision-making are embedded throughout every project stage.
FPIC recognises Traditional Owners as custodians of Land and Sea Country with decision-making rights and cultural governance authority. AIMS upholds knowledge equity, accountability, and transparency, ensuring Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property are respected equally alongside Western science.
Samples and research outcomes remain part of Sea Country under FPIC, and all results are shared in culturally appropriate ways.
Traditional Owners, tourism operators and researchers work together to set up floating pools to collect coral spawn in the Whitsundays. Photo: Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Indigenous Futures Project
This collaborative project advances Indigenous inclusion in reef management, recognising the inherent rights and responsibilities of Traditional Owners to lead within the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program.
The initiative aims to develop a skills framework to translate emerging RRAP knowledge into a nationally accredited Indigenous training program, positioning Traditional Owners at the forefront of RRAP’s operational testing phase, the Pilot Deployments Program (PDP).
Aligned with the Reef 2050 Traditional Owner Implementation Plan, the project draws on RRAP and PDP expertise and partnerships to deliver training materials and practical skills to a pilot cohort of Indigenous Rangers, creating a pathway for integration into the Vocational Education and Training sector.
By strategically recruiting Rangers with advanced maritime skills, the project aims to ensure efficient, high-impact training that enhances existing capabilities. This initiative represents a transformative step toward empowering Traditional Owners to lead in reef restoration and adaptation, and the growing reef restoration industry.
The Project is led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) through Partnership with the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.
A Biocultural Framework
In 2019, Reef Traditional Owners identified a clear need for a tool to support informed decision-making about emerging reef restoration and adaptation activities happening on Sea Country.
The Biocultural Risk and Opportunity Assessment Framework has emerged to address this need.
It has been created by and for Reef Traditional Owners through collaborative workshops over a period of five years. It developed from the Biocultural risk and opportunity assessment project, of the Stakeholder and Traditional Owner Engagement Sub-Program, led by a team comprised key members of the AIMS Indigenous Partnerships team, social scientists from CSIRO and with support and guidance from the Traditional Owner Technical Working Group for Reef Restoration and Adaptation Science and Crown of Thorns Starfish. It was collaboratively developed via 3 workshops held with a total of 15 Traditional Owner groups from the northern, middle and southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef who were already involved with RRAP, and a further two workshops held each with Lama Lama People and the DREAMS team to test and improve the Framework.
The Framework provides protocol and principles to guide culturally grounded conversations to support decision-making within and between Traditional Owner groups.
A strength-based approach is central, recognising Traditional Owners not simply as risk managers for research projects, but as active partners who will shape positive futures for Land and Sea Country. This is reflected in the guided discussion themes, which include connecting people to Country, protecting Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, and building long-term capacity.
The Framework has been designed so that it is transferable and adaptable to other research and development contexts. As per the legal deed of assignment of copyright, this Framework is held on behalf of Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, pending further assignment to a future legal entity representing Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef.
The intention of the Framework is to promote meaningful, early and ongoing collaboration with Traditional Owners in proposals relating to the Great Barrier Reef. Any use of the Framework without engaging with Traditional Owners falls short of ethical research standards and industry practice.
It is important to note and as per the deed of assignment of copyright:
- The Framework may be used by other First Nations people in Australia and overseas to assist them to develop their own protocols for collaborative research and development.
- The Framework must not be used by others, including researchers, consultants or government, to undertake an assessment of biocultural risk and opportunities.
- The Framework may only be read by others, including researchers, consultants or government to help them understand the wide range of considerations that are important to Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef
Future Partner Guidance
As part of the Biocultural Assessment project, the project team and workshop participants have also developed a guidance for prospective partners on engaging in meaningful, culturally respectful discussions about potential RRAP technology deployments. This information supports genuine partnership and consent, not persuasion, ensuring that Traditional Owners’ rights, knowledge, and decisions remain central to all activities on Sea Country.
- It has been designed and published for access and use by researchers, consultants and government who wish to discuss options with Traditional Owners for deployment of RRAP technology (and other pro-jects/research) on their Sea Country.
- It is designed to assist these individuals and groups with suggested activities that might be considered prior to initial discussion with a Traditional Owner group, in follow up meetings, in early days of agreement making and as part of the ongoing review process of the potential partnership.
- It includes a summary overview of the Biocultural Framework. The Framework may only be read, not used, by researchers, consultants or government to help them understand the wide range of considerations that are important to Traditional Owners of the Great Barrier Reef.