Regional Agreement

The Wet Tropics Regional Agreement 2005 provides for the cooperative management of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area by the 18 Rainforest Aboriginal people associated with the Area, and the Australian and Queensland Governments.

The Agreement addresses key recommendations from the 1998 report “Which Way Our Cultural Survival - the Review of Aboriginal Involvement in the Management of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area”. It recognises the significant contribution Rainforest Aboriginal people make to the management of the cultural and natural resources of the Area.

The central principle of the Agreement is the recognition of Rainforest Aboriginal people's rights and interests, and to afford them the opportunity to define and negotiate their own priorities, needs and aspirations for management of the Wet Tropics. A collaborative and equitable approach between World Heritage management agencies and Rainforest Aboriginal people is of vital importance in achieving these principles.

The main features of the Agreement are:

» Establishment of a peak organisation to broadly represent Rainforest Aboriginal people on land and cultural heritage matters across the World Heritage Area. The Aboriginal Rainforest Council operated from September 2004 until March 2008, and a key outcome was their collaboration with Traditional Owner groups to develop the cultural values application for the National Heritage Listing process.

Rainforest Aboriginal people are currently working on establishing the Rainforest Aboriginal People’s Alliance (RAPA) as an independent peak Indigenous entity for land and sea management in the Wet Tropics. The RAPA will undertake advocacy in strategic policy and planning, and provide capacity building and support services across the region.

» Establishment of the Rainforest Aboriginal Advisory Committee (RAAC) as a statutory advisory committee to the WTMA Board. The RAAC operated from February 2005 until March 2011, when the RAAC formally requested the WTMA Board to dissolve the RAAC to enable Traditional Owners to focus on forming the RAPA.

» Increased participation in decision making through structural arrangements, such as the inclusion of a second Rainforest Aboriginal person on the WTMA Board. In 2006, the Queensland government made legislative changes to ensure that at least two of the seven Directors of the WTMA Board must be Aboriginal people from the Wet Tropics.

» Recognition of the cultural values of the Wet Tropics through support to list the World Heritage Area for its cultural values on the National Heritage List and potentially the World Heritage List (to complement its current World Heritage listing for natural values).

» Participation in policy, planning, permitting and management through a set of principle/guidelines and very detailed protocols which outline appropriate ways to engage and involve Rainforest Aboriginal people in World Heritage management.

In 2011 the WTMA is reviewing the implementation of the Agreement for the Wet Tropics Board, in collaboration with Rainforest Aboriginal people and other Agreement parties.