Arnhem Land – Aboriginal fire ecologist, Dean Yibarbuk, explains how traditional fire management practices have kept the country healthy for thousands of years. Recently, his mob at Wardakken have been working with local scientists to adapt traditional fire management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions whilst caring for the land.
Featuring Pah Dean Yibarbuk
Director/Camera/Editor: Kim McKenzie
Producer: Citt Williams
Associate Producers: Dean Yibarbuk and Peter Cooke
Graphics: David Jimenez
Sound Mixer: Tfer Newsome
Shot on location in Western Arnhem land, Australia
Duration 5:32 minutes
Developed and produced for United Nations University (UNU) by UNU Media Studio, Wardakken Inc and Australian National University in association with UNU-IAS Traditional knowledge Initiative and The Christensen Fund.
Further information for this film can be found at film’s website:
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/fighting-carbon-with-fire/
Download Carbon Guide for Northern Indigenous Australians:
http://www.unutki.org/news.php?news_id=60&doc_id=101
United Nations University has published this work under a Creative Commons license – share alike, attribution, no derivatives, non-commercial
*About this Project*
Collaboratively made with Indigenous storytellers and their collaborators, these videobriefs are told in local languages, respect Intellectual Property rights and provide storytellers with media training, resources and a fair media engagement model for future projects. The final videos played alongside other international climate change videos at a locally coordinated forum event, in April 2009’s Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Summit and later at a special screening at the National Museum of Denmark during the Copenhagen COP15 meeting.
*About the filmmakers*
Kim McKenzie- Director/Camera/Editor
Head of Australian National University’s Digital Humanities Hub, Kim is an ethnographic filmmaker and multimedia producer based in Canberra. In 1994 he produced the multimedia version of the Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. He also produced the CDROM and book People of the Rivermouth: the Joborr Texts of Frank Gurrmanamana.
Dean Yibarbuk
Dean Munuggullumurr Yibarbuk was born in 1955 near the Tomkinson River, in Central Arnhem Land. Two years after Dean’s birth the Government established a settlement nearby at Maningrida which today is a regional centre for small indigenous communities in the region.
Citt Williams- Co-director/Producer/Editor
Citt is a documentary filmmaker at the UNU Media Studio with over 12 years producing experience in broadcast media. Citt’s produced documentary films have been screened at festivals including Cannes (Yellow Fella), Sundance, Mumbai, Melbourne and by broadcasters including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Discovery and National Geographic. She has a Masters degree in documentary from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (Sydney) and a Business degree in Film and TV Production from QUT (Brisbane). Within UNU, her unit “Media Studio” (MS) has grounded expertise in online learning, interactive media and video production and in linking development issues with visual media and online content on social and environmental issues. Her role in the UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative seeks to build greater understanding and facilitate awareness of traditional knowledge (TK) to inform action by Indigenous peoples, local communities and domestic and international policy makers. Key outputs include research activities, policy studies, capacity development and online learning and dissemination.
Wardakken Inc
In August 2007 the traditional owners formed Warddeken Land Management to assist the protection and management of their country, combining traditional ecological knowledge with western science. Today Warddeken Land Management operates out of Kabulwarnamyo and has about 12 rangers working in its programs, depending on the season.The Indigenous rangers work on a variety of projects including weed and feral animal control and traditional fire management. Passing on traditional ecological knowledge to younger generations is an important ranger role. Like all of Australia’s Indigenous Protected Areas, Warddeken is part of the National Reserve System – our nation’s most secure way of protecting native habitat for future generations.
United Nations University Media Studio
The UNU Media Studio was established in March 2003 and works in collaboration with a global network of partners to develop and share open educational resources. Through a small team based in Tokyo, the UNU promotes innovation in the building of interactive content and video documentaries that engage, entertain and educate. The core creative team is comprised of specialists in web and graphic design, documentary and multimedia production, as well as educational technology and instructional design. In developing projects, this team collaborates with subject matter experts from within the UNU, from other UN bodies and from partner universities. The UNU Media Studio also collaborates with independent professionals in the area of documentary production, web application development, web design and instructional design. mediastudio.unu.edu
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies – Traditional Knowledge Inititaive
The UNU-IAS Traditional Knowledge Initiative seeks to build greater understanding and facilitate awareness of traditional knowledge (TK) to inform action by indigenous peoples, local communities and domestic and international policy makers. Key outputs include research activities, policy studies, capacity development and online learning and dissemination. unutki.org
For more information:
Our World 2.0 ourworld.unu.edu and UNU IAS-TKI unutki.org
A high resolution version of this video, and additional language subtitles are available for screening. Please contact us for details:
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