CHAPTER: Indigenous biosecurity: past, present and future

Environmental management is culturally and economically significant to Indigenous communities, and these communities increasingly recognise biosecurity as vital to maintaining their traditional ecosystems and supporting the continuation of their cultures. But what is ‘best practice’ biosecurity when it comes to Indigenous lands and waters? How can Indigenous communities protect the biological heritage that underpins cultural values and practices while maintaining or expanding economic opportunities? In answer to these challenges, Indigenous voices are now calling for attention and action across the policy and research landscapes of biosecurity.

A uniquely Indigenous approach to biosecurity does not start from a void, as Indigenous Knowledges (IK, to be interpreted as plural) have ancient philosophical and empirical bases on which to build and analyse new experiences. Indeed, as Indigenous collectives bring their locally specific knowledges into existing and expanding biosecurity networks, they bring opportunities for efficient, effective and ethical biosecurity systems. This chapter gives a brief overview of selected Indigenous experiences of ‘biosecurity’ but hopes to inform non-Indigenous communities that Indigenous communities have rights, knowledges and approaches that support, inform, challenge and expand contemporary biosecurity practices.