NESP MAC RRRC Project 3.19: Addressing Kakadu's strategic marine research needs

The Indigenous-owned lands of Kakadu National Park are World Heritage-listed and globally significant. The natural and cultural values of Kakadu are at risk from a range of threats that will intensify over time. To prioritise the management of these threats, there is a pressing need to develop a Kakadu research strategy. The NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub have already committed a project within RP2022 to work with Traditional Owners and Park managers to develop a research strategy for Kakadu National Park. Investment from the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub in RP2023 will value-add to this existing project and enable the inclusion of marine and coastal issues into this research strategy. This project will deliver a research strategy that will provide guidance on both what research needs to be done and how it should be conducted in Kakadu. The Kakadu Indigenous Research Committee (KIRC) has been operating successfully for the past 5 years and the park has been the location for several Indigenous-led research projects that demonstrated best-practice approaches for collaborative research.