Examining ‘inclusiveness ’ in adaptive natural resource management

Adaptive management claims to offer reflexive options for environmental management decision-making. In recent times, the importance of including both ‘expert ’ scientific and stakeholder knowledge through more participatory procedures has been emphasised. However, there has been little research on the practical challenges of ‘inclusiveness’, in particular how management institutions incorporate the relevant, multiple and diverse ways of thinking of stakeholders in practice. This paper addresses this deficit by examining Indigenous knowledges as relevant contributors to the adaptive management process. It reports on research undertaken in 2006 as part of an honours project, investigating inclusiveness in management of the Barmah Forest in Victoria, which is one of the six Murray Darling Basin Commission designated Icon Sites along the Murray River. The paper argues that exclusion of relevant knowledge bases and institutional rigidity are common problems ofadaptive natural resource management. Indigenous (Yorta Yorta) knowledge is used as a case study to illustrate the ways in which institutional and individual ways of understanding can affect stakeholder representation in adaptive management in natural resource management negotiations. Ways to address these issues include: (re)examining institutional structures, understanding different ways of thinking, and ways forward for adaptive management, through instigating considered and appropriate ‘process ’ and (re)conceptualising scale. These stages address underlying practical hurdles to adaptive management and reflexive thinking in a cross-cultural context, however the suggestions are also relevant to including all stakeholders in natural resource management