Strategic weed management for the aboriginal lands of the top end.

Aboriginal lands constitute nearly 50% of the Northern Territory (NT) and are vital to contemporary Aboriginal life. However northern Australian ecosystems, especially wetland and riparian habitats, are under threat of invasion from a number of weed species which affect both the structure and function of an ecosystem and could have a major impact on the lives of Aboriginal people. Weeds located on Aboriginal land in the wet-dry tropics pose unique management problems. Aboriginal lands are often vast, but the people are few and often without the physical, financial and technical resources available to control weeds. The aim is to develop a weed management strategy for Aboriginal land under the Northern Land Council’s jurisdiction (Figure 1) using the collective wisdom available locally and internationally to ensure that the weed control dollar is spent in the most effective way. This paper describes the process proposed in developing such a strategy.