The latest policy position is the Queensland Conservation Council's "Protected Areas and Native Title Policy". The policy was passed in December 2001 by postal vote of the members of the Council and ratified by the QCC Executive in January 2002.

Four policy areas, addressing environment protection, native title and indigenous cultural values, are now being looked at by the project -

back to top...

Policy debate through the project has been conducted through several rounds of discussions, assisted by policy working papers. These papers started with an initial briefing paper and a comprehensive scoping document, moved to a first statement of recognition and principle - a provisional position - then developed a fully scoped schedule of policy issues. These policy issues were surveyed across participant groups. A draft national parks management policy (including native title) was developed in parallel, and submitted to the Queensland Environment Minister for consideration in the Parks Master Plan process.

The policy survey resulted in a thorough assessment of groups' positions and ascertained the level of democratic support for emerging policy positions. The results of this survey led into the 2002 QCC policy and also the combined environment groups' Queensland Election 2001 policy document.

Back to top...

There are a range of policies already developed or adopted by individual ENGOs. Some of these policies are available here and demonstrate a growing movement by environment groups towards the recognition and acceptance of indigenous tenure and management rights in protected areas.

Back to top...