Developing Enterprise Opportunities and Resilience in Remote North Australian Communities

It is well recognised that local and indigenous communities face significant development challenges in remote regions of northern Australia. In this paper we contend that development of enterprise opportunities, especially through the fostering of land and sea management activities under culturally appropriate governance arrangements, can contribute substantially to the building of regional economies and community resilience with associated benefits for natural hazards management. We focus on recent experience with landscape fire management initiatives established as part of Australia’s developing commitment to tackling climate change, and suggest that additional innovative incentives are available to help transform northern regional economies. In particular, we outline the case for promoting a range of economic benefits from CO2-e emissions abatement that can be a source of income for Indigenous people and can improve savanna landscape values, thus supporting local and indigenous communities as well as government programs for developing healthy landscapes for healthy people.