Ngarrindjeri Vision for the Ecological Character Description of the Coorong and Lower Lakes

The Ngarrindjeri Vision for Country contains longstanding principles of ‘wise use’ of their ‘Country’, supporting healthy rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastlines. Fundamental to this vision is an understanding that everything is connected and that both cultural and natural wellbeing require healthy lands, waters and all living things (Ngarrindjeri Nation 2007, p. 5). Ngarrindjeri use the term ‘Ruwe/Ruwar’ to describe this interconnectivity. Ngarrindjeri and Indigenous peoples internationally understand their humanity and their Indigenous sovereignty as being constituted in inextricable relations with the nonhuman world. For Ngarrindjeri, this philosophy is embodied in the concept and practice of Yannarumi, or ‘Speaking as Country’. This philosophy expresses the interconnectivity between the lands, waters and all living things. As part of the living body of their Country, Ngarrindjeri believe they have an abiding right and responsibility to sustain what Western science understands as ‘ecological health’. In 1985 the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert regions of Ngarrindjeri Country were declared wetlands of international significance under the Ramsar Convention (1971). This area includes the ‘Meeting of the Waters’, which has been recognised in State legislation as a location where the cultural and spiritual significance of the area is especially crucial for Ngarrindjeri wellbeing. Since this time, Ngarrindjeri have sought a meaningful contribution to the formal management of the Ramsar site. In 1998 Ngarrindjeri leaders established a formally constituted Ngarrindjeri Ramsar Working Party to develop a Nationendorsed position paper for inclusion in a proposed Coorong, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Management Plan (DEH 2000; Hemming et al. 2002; NRWG 1998). However, the South Australian Government excluded this from the final Ramsar Management Plan, thereby blocking formal recognition of deep Ngarrindjeri connection to Country. In 2006 the then SA Department of Environment and Heritage published an Ecological Character Description (ECD) of the