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In the first 27 years of the Central Australian Laboratory (CAL), to 1980, research focussed almost entirely on the needs of the pastoral industry. By the 1980s, ongoing campaigns for Aboriginal land rights and demands to conserve biodiversity plainly showed that there were other land uses deserving research attention. Initially CAL’s research agenda expanded to include conservation in spinifex grasslands and grazing lands but remained biophysical in nature. It subsequently became clear that people’s roles in decision-making about land use and management should be part of research. By the 2000s, scientists were able to build trusting relationships with Aboriginal people and organisations and undertake collaborative studies to improve livelihoods and wellbeing on country. Over the 38 years from 1980 to 2018, CAL’s research activities responded to diverse societal expectations but it was not enough to prevent the laboratory’s eventual closure as public investment in rangelands dwindled.

Innovation platforms (IPs) are a way of organizing multistakeholder interactions, marshalling ideas, people and resources to address challenges and opportunities embedded in complex settings. The approach has its roots in theories of complexity, the concept of innovation systems and practices of participatory action research. IPs have been widely adopted across Africa and beyond in recent years as a “must have” tool in a range of “for development” modes of agricultural research. Our experiences with establishing and facilitating nine IPs in local settings in west and central Africa contribute to understanding factors that impact on their effectiveness. The nine IPs were variously focused on developing dairy, crop and/or meat value chains by strengthening mixed crop-livestock production systems or seed systems. Using case study methods, we identified variables that contribute to explaining the performance of these IPs in relation to six domains of change in the agricultural system and the sustainability of changes. Thematic analysis was guided by a conceptual framework which grouped variables into four categories (context, structure, conduct, and process) that interact to influence IP performance. Stronger market connections and value chains were generated through some of these IPs but the most prevalent changes overall were in farm productivity and technical knowledge of producers. The structures evolved in some IPs, akin to those of producer collectives, suggested they were filling an institutional gap locally. The effect of the IPs on deeper level institutions that influence agricultural systems and food security was modest, constraining prospects for the IPs to generate impact at scale. Impacts from the IPs on research and development organisations were uncommon but had transformative significance. Our conceptual framework did not offer optimal guidance to understanding how the many variables that contributed to performance of these IPs combined and sequenced, but the pattern of interactions was consistent with increased social capital being the prime mediator for change. Achieving greater prospects for transformational change and impact at scale warrants at least equal attention to three other interconnected change pathways: through markets, institutions and innovation capacity. Important factors for increased impact are individuals and organisations with capacity to purposefully build and manage inter-organisational and cross-scale networks, early diagnostic studies of the institutional landscape, and adaptive processes of critical reflection and learning that continue beyond the short term.

Gender equity has been recognized as a guiding principle for conservation management globally. Yet little attention is paid to gender in the design and implementation of many conservation programs including those in the vibrant and expanding arena of Australian Indigenous conservation partnerships. We examined the impact of gender in management of the Northern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in arid central Australia through qualitative research (interviews and participant observation) with senior Warlpiri women and men and members of the all-male Wulaign community-based ranger group. Senior men and women had many similar perspectives including that customary knowledge, skills and activities were important in managing country and were occurring less through the IPA's management partnerships than they would like. Additional challenges reported by women included lack of vehicles to access country. Senior men specifically called for greater gender equity in allocation of resources including establishment of a women's ranger group. These perspectives indicate that gender equity is a Warlpiri cultural norm for management of country. Differences between Indigenous women's and men's management of country elsewhere in arid Australia suggest that opportunities also exist for gender equity to enhance conservation outcomes. Prevalent belief systems in Australia, and many other developed countries, are gender blind in that they fail to recognize differences between men's and women's needs, interests, knowledges, behaviors and power. Monitoring of Australian Indigenous conservation programs shows that an increasing proportion of Indigenous community-based rangers are women. However factors that might explain and support this trend cannot be readily identified because little or no attention to gender is apparent in program design and project planning. Gender-aware design of conservation management policies, programs and projects is important for challenging and changing gender blindness. Brokers and bridging institutions, or ‘two-way’ approaches, have been important in progressing cross-cultural equity in the implementation of Australian Indigenous conservation partnerships and can be expected to be also valuable for promoting gender equity.

The persistence of African swine fever virus (ASFV) in endemic areas, with small-scale but regular outbreaks in domestic pigs, is not well understood. ASFV has not been detected using conventional diagnosis in these pigs or adjacent populations of resistant African wild pigs, that could act as potential carriers during the outbreaks. However, such data are crucial for the design of evidence-based control strategies. We conducted cross-sectional (1107 pigs) and longitudinal (100 pigs) monitoring of ASFV prevalence in local pigs in Kenya and Uganda. The horizontal survey revealed no evidence of ASFV in the serum or blood using either conventional or real-time PCR. One pig consistently tested positive using ELISA, but negative using PCR assays on blood. Interestingly, the isotype of the antibodies from this animal were strongly IgA biased relative to control domestic pigs and warthogs, suggesting a role for mucosal immunity. The tissues from this pig were positive by PCR following post-mortem. Internal organ tissues of 44 healthy pigs (28 sentinel pigs and 16 pigs from slaughter slabs) were tested with four different PCR assays; 15.9 % were positive for ASFV suggesting that healthy pigs carrying ASFV exist in the swine population in the study area. P72 and p54 genotyping of ASFV revealed very limited diversity: all were classified in genotype IX at both loci, as were virtually all viruses causing recent ASF outbreaks in the region. Our study suggests that carrier pigs may play a role in ASF disease outbreaks, although the triggers for outbreaks remain unclear and require further investigation. This study significantly increases scientific knowledge of the epidemiology of ASF in the field in Africa, which will contribute to the design of effective surveillance and control strategies.

We applied social network analysis to pig trader networks on the Kenya-Uganda border. Social network analysis is a recently developed tool, which is useful for understanding value chains and improving disease control policies. We interviewed a sample of 33 traders about their experiences with trade and African swine fever (ASF), analyzed the networks they generated in purchasing pigs and selling pork and their potential contribution to modulating dissemination of the ASF virus (ASFV). The majority of the traders were aware of clinical signs of ASF and the risk of trade transmitting ASFV. Most said they avoided buying pigs from ASF outbreak villages or sick pigs but their experiences also indicated that inadvertent purchase was relatively common. Traders had early knowledge of outbreaks since they were contacted by farmers who had heard rumours and wanted to sell their pigs to avoid the risk of them dying. Individual traders bought pigs in up to nine villages, and up to six traders operated in a village. Although each trade typically spanned less than 5km, networks of the various traders, comprising movements of pigs from source villages to slaughter slabs/sites and retail outlets, and movement of pork to villages where it was consumed, linked up indirectly across the 100km×50km study area and revealed several trade pathways across the Kenya-Uganda border. ASF could potentially spread across this area and beyond through sequential pig and pork transactions. Regulation of the pig and pork trade was minimal in practice. The risk of ASFV being spread by traders was compounded by their use of poorly constructed slaughter slabs/sites with open drainage, ineffective or non-existent meat inspection services, lack of provision for biosecurity in the value chain, and sales of pork to customers who were unaware of the risks to their own pigs from contact with ASF infected pork. More effective regulation is warranted. However, limitations on government capacity, together with the strong self-interest that established traders have in reducing the disruption and financial losses that outbreaks cause, highlight the importance of governments and traders co-developing an approach to ASF control. Formation of trader organizations or common interest groups warrants government support as an important step in engaging traders in developing and implementing effective approaches to reduce the risk of ASF outbreaks.

Co-production between scientific and Indigenous knowledge has been identified as useful to generating adaptation pathways with Indigenous peoples, who are attached to their traditional lands and thus highly exposed to the impacts of climate change. However, ignoring the complex and contested histories of nation-state colonisation can result in naive adaptation plans that increase vulnerability. Here, through a case study in central Australia, we investigate the conditions under which co-production between scientific and Indigenous knowledge can support climate change adaptation pathways among place-attached Indigenous communities. A research team including scientists, Ltyentye Apurte Rangers and other staff from the Central Land Council first undertook activities to co-produce climate change presentations in the local Arrernte language; enable community members to identify potential adaptation actions; and implement one action, erosion control. Second, we reflected on the outcomes of these activities in order to unpack deeper influences. Applying the theory of articulation complexes, we show how ideologies, institutions and economies have linked Indigenous societies and the establishing Australian nation-state since colonisation. The sequence of complexes characterised as frontier, mission, pastoral, land-rights, community-development and re-centralisation, which is current, have both enabled and constrained adaptation options. We found knowledge co-production generates adaptation pathways when: (1) effective methods for knowledge co-production are used, based on deeply respectful partnerships, cultural governance and working together through five co-production tasks—prepare, communicate, discuss, bring together and apply; (2) Indigenous people have ongoing connection to their traditional territories to maintain their Indigenous knowledge; (3) the relationship between the Indigenous people and the nation-state empowers local decision-making and learning, which requires and creates consent, trust, accountability, reciprocity, and resurgence of Indigenous culture, knowledge and practices. These conditions foster the emergence of articulation complexes that enable the necessary transformative change from the colonial legacies. Both these conditions and our approach are likely to be relevant for place-attached Indigenous peoples across the globe in generating climate adaptation pathways.

Pig movements play a significant role in the spread of economically important infectious diseases such as the African swine fever. Characterization of movement networks between pig farms and through other types of farm and household enterprises that are involved in pig value chains can provide useful information on the role that different participants in the networks play in pathogen transmission. Analysis of social networks that underpin these pig movements can reveal pathways that are important in the transmission of disease, trade in commodities, the dissemination of information and the influence of behavioural norms. We assessed pig movements among pig keeping households within West Kenya and East Uganda and across the shared Kenya-Uganda border in the study region, to gain insight into within-country and trans-boundary pig movements. Villages were sampled using a randomized cluster design. Data were collected through interviews in 2012 and 2013 from 683 smallholder pig-keeping households in 34 villages. NodeXL software was used to describe pig movement networks at village level. The pig movement and trade networks were localized and based on close social networks involving family ties, friendships and relationships with neighbours. Pig movement network modularity ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 and exhibited good community structure within the network implying an easy flow of knowledge and adoption of new attitudes and beliefs, but also promoting an enhanced rate of disease transmission. The average path length of 5 defined using NodeXL, indicated that disease could easily reach every node in a cluster. Cross-border boar service between Uganda and Kenya was also recorded. Unmonitored trade in both directions was prevalent. While most pig transactions in the absence of disease, were at a small scale (5km) and characterized by regular agistment, most pig sales during ASF outbreaks were to traders or other farmers from outside the sellers' village at a range of10km. The close social relationships between actors in pig movement networks indicate the potential for possible interventions to develop shared norms and mutually accepted protocols amongst smallholder pig keepers to better manage the risk of ASF introduction and transmission.

A study was undertaken along the Kenya-Uganda border in four districts of Tororo and Busia (Uganda) and Busia and Teso (Kenya) to understand smallholder farmers' knowledge, practices and awareness of biosecurity measures. Information was collected by administering questionnaires to 645 randomly selected pig households in the study area. In addition, focus group discussions were carried out in 12 villages involving 248 people using a standardized list of questions. The outcome suggested that there was a very low level of awareness of biosecurity practices amongst smallholder farmers. We conclude that adoption of specific biosecurity practices by smallholder farmers is feasible but requires institutional support. There is a clear requirement for government authorities to sensitize farmers using approaches that allow active participation of farmers in the design, planning and implementation of biosecurity practices to enable enhanced adoption.

Landscape-scale approaches are emerging as central to ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation globally, triggering the requirement for collaboration between multiple actors and associated risks including knowledge asymmetries; institutional fragmentation; uncertainty; power imbalances; “invisible” slow-changing variables; and entrenched socio-economic inequities. While social science has elucidated some dimensions required for effective collaboration, little is known about how collaboration manages these risks, or of its effects on associated social-ecological linkages. Our analysis of four different Australian contexts of collaboration shows they mobilised institutions matched to addressing environmental threats, at diverse scales across regulatory and non-regulatory domains. The institutions mobilised included national regulatory controls on development that threatened habitat, incentives to farmers for practice-change, and mechanisms that increased resources for on-ground fire and pest management. Knowledge-sharing underpinned effective risk management and was facilitated through the use of boundary objects, enhanced multi-stakeholder peer review processes, interactive spatial platforms, and Aboriginal-driven planning. Institutions mobilised in these collaborations show scale-dependent comparative advantage for addressing environmental threats. The findings confirm the need to shift scientific attention away from theorising about the ideal-scale for governance. We argue instead for a focus on understanding how knowledge-sharing activities across multiple scales can more effectively connect environmental threats with the most capable institution to address these threats.

A cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess risk factors associated with occurrence of African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in smallholder pig farms in four districts along Kenya-Uganda border. Information was collected by administering questionnaires to 642 randomly selected pig households in the study area. The study showed that the major risk factors that influenced ASF occurrence were purchase of pigs in the previous year (p

This paper explores innovation processes and institutional change within research for development (R4D). It draws on learning by Australian participants associated with the implementation of a three-year Australian-funded food security R4D programme in Africa, and in particular a sub-component designed to support and elicit this learning. The authors critically examine this attempt at institutional innovation via the creation of a ‘learning project’ (LP) in a larger programme. For systemic innovation to be achieved, it is concluded that the system of concern must envisage institutional innovation and change within the donor and external research organizations as well as with project recipients and collaborative partners. Institutional constraints and opportunities are explored, including how the overall approach to learning in this programme could have been reframed as an organizational innovation platform (IP), designing, managing and evaluating IPs at different systemic levels of governance – including within the collaborative programme with African partners, in the constituent in-country projects, in the collaborating Australian organizations and at the level of personal practice.

"Efforts to resolve indigenous peoples' grievances about the negative impacts of protected areas established on their customary estates by governments are driving the development of shared governance and management. The T?hoe people have sought that the settlement of their grievances against the New Zealand government include unencumbered rights to manage Te Urewera, guided by scientific and traditional knowledge and practices, for conservation and social benefits for the T??hoe people and the broader public. We led a study tour to allow T??hoe and other Ma-oori representatives to gain first-hand experience of long-standing jointly managed protected areas in Australia that the New Zealand government had drawn on in proposing mechanisms to resolve the T??hoe claim. We found that these areas were a poor fit to the study tour participants' aspirations that indigenous world views would underpin governance and that indigenous people would be empowered. Our findings highlight that settlement must be transformational in terms of attitudes and relationships. Collaborative problem-solving processes that build trust can contribute. In areas like Te Urewera, where tenure boundaries fragment a landscape that is a coherent whole in indigenous world views, settlement processes can offer the prospect of landscape-scale outcomes for social justice and conservation."

Pasture user groups have become an important tool by which development agencies have sought to improve rangeland condition and resolve inter-herder conflict. However the ability of these groups to improve rangeland condition in the Gobi Desert is rarely examined. In this paper, three and twelve year old pasture user group areas were compared with non-group areas. Herders and local officials in both group and non-group areas were interviewed to compare activities and institutions that may contribute to degradation through overgrazing. Soil and vegetation based indicators of rangeland condition were also assessed. There were some differences in indicators of rangeland condition between pasture user group and non-group areas, but little evidence of institutions or activities specific to the group that could explain this difference. Herders did not seek to manage grazing pressures for natural resource management aims, nor did they enforce or sanction the external spatial boundaries of pasture user groups. These results suggest that the ability of pasture user group to improve rangeland condition in the Mongolian Gobi Desert may have been overstated.

Research for development (R4D) praxis (theory-informed practical action) can be underpinned by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which, it is claimed, provide opportunities for knowledge working and sharing. Such a framing implicitly or explicitly constructs a boundary around knowledge as reified, or commodified – or at least able to be stabilized for a period of time (first order knowledge). In contrast ‘third-generation knowledge’ emphasizes the social nature of learning and knowledge-making; this reframes knowledge as a negotiated social practice, thus constructing a different system boundary. This paper offers critical reflections on the use of a wiki as a data repository and mediating technical platform as part of innovating in R4D praxis. A sustainable social learning process was sought that fostered an emergent community of practice among biophysical and social researchers acting for the first time as R4D co-researchers. Over time the technologically mediated element of the learning system was judged to have failed. This inquiry asks: How can learning system design cultivate learning opportunities and respond to learning challenges in an online environment to support R4D practice? Confining critical reflection to the online learning experience alone ignores the wider context in which knowledge work took place; therefore the institutional setting is also considered.

This paper examines the economic potential for fire management to provide offsets to carbon markets in the savannas of northern Australia. Long-term field trials in Australia's savannas have quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement resulting from improved fire management. However, little is known about the economic potential of fire management projects or the locations where projects might be economically viable for providing GHG offsets. A benefit–cost analysis of fire management for GHG offsets is presented here, which includes spatially explicit estimates for GHG abatement under three assumptions of management efficacy (conservative, empirically based, upper potential). The total supply of GHG abatement is estimated under different prices and management efficacy assumptions, and areas that pass the benefit–cost analysis are identified. At the Australian Government's carbon price of A$23 per metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e), fire management would be economically viable across 51 million hectares, all within the higher monsoonal rainfall regions of northern Australia, abating 1.6 million tonnes of CO2-e per year. These estimates suggest that fire management projects can contribute to GHG abatement targets and be financially viable across large areas of northern Australia. Additional benefits are anticipated from these projects for biodiversity conservation, livelihoods for indigenous Australians and economic development in remote regions.

Social actors in arid regions must develop strategies to respond to available resources, which are scarce, variable, patchy and unpredictable relative to other regions.We explore our observations of relationships amongst people and organisations in Australian deserts using a stylised network model of the structure of social networks in arid systems. Results suggest that temporal resource variability drives increased network density, but with fewer strong ties; sparse populations drive a relatively higher proportion of strong ties, and that networks develop a hub configuration as resource endowments become more patchy spatially. These ideas highlight some issues that warrant improved understanding by actors seeking to enhance livelihoods and local resilience in these extreme environments. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The responses of ecosystem functions in Inner Mongolian grasslands to climate change have implications for ecosystem services and sustainable development. Research published in two previous Special Issues of The Rangeland Journal shows that recent climate change added to overgrazing and other factors caused increased degradation of Inner Mongolian rangelands whereas on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, climate change tended to ameliorate the impacts of overgrazing. Recent climate change on the Mongolian Plateau involved warming with increasingly variable annual precipitation and decreased summer rainfall. Future climate projections are different, involving modest increases in precipitation and further climate warming. Research published in the current Special Issue shows that precipitation is the climate factor that has the most substantial impact on ecosystem functions in this region and is positively correlated with plant species diversity, ecosystem carbon exchange and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index. Increased flows of provisioning and regulating ecosystem services are expected with future climate change indicating that its impacts will be positive in this region. However, spatial heterogeneity in the environments and climates of Inner Mongolia highlights the risk of over-generalising from local-scale studies and indicates the value of increased attention to meta-analysis and regional scale models. The enhanced flows of ecosystem services from climate change may support sustainable development by promoting recovery of degraded grasslands with flow-on benefits for livelihoods and the regional economy. However, realising these potential benefits will depend on sound landscape management and addressing the risk of herders increasing livestock numbers to take advantage of the extra forage available. Investment in education is important to improve local capacity to adapt rangeland management to climate change, as are policies and strategies that integrate social, economic and ecological considerations and are tailored to specific regions. Gaps in understanding that could be addressed through further research on ecosystem functions include; belowground carbon exchange processes; the impact of increased variability in precipitation; and the impact of different management practices under changed climates.

Globalisation presents particular challenges for deserts given that their sparse populations, which are amongst the world’s poorest in an absolute economic sense, tend to be remote from major markets and have only a distant, marginal voice in political and policy decision making. Here we are defining deserts as the arid and semi-arid drylands that encompass 70% of Australia and 25% of the world’s land surfaces. The value of the knowledge that local traditions and science have generated about living sustainably in deserts is being promoted and extended through the ‘desert knowledge’ movement in Australia. The Australian research reported here, together with a contribution from Niger that offers a contrast and some lessons for Australia, is largely underpinned by a neopopulist paradigm of development stressing respect for local knowledge, participatory practice and empowerment. Research in partnership with desert Aboriginal groups is contributing to their engagement with new livelihood opportunities. The local knowledge of livestock graziers is also being engaged to support sustainable management of desert water sources and landscapes for multiple values. The research reported here also addresses opportunities and challenges for local norms, identities, knowledge systems, governance and livelihoods from broader scale processes and institutions. In doing so it contributes to a ‘neo-ideographic approach’ wherein desert people might better harness their locality, knowledge and diversity in adaptations that shape their encounters with globalisation. It also points to considerable scope to mature such an approach.

More than half of Australia's lands and coastal regions are now encompassed within the boundaries of native title claims. The claims and the 'native title communities' who have lodged them are shaping a new geography of Australia's lands and seascapes. These communities derive from traditional ownership and thus have a different, and more fundamentally authoritative, basis to the indigenous 'residential communities' whose representative organisations are the mechanism through which governments have promoted indigenous self-management and which dominate in public affairs. Recognition of native title provides some opportunities for indigenous people to negotiate for benefits which will address their marginalised and economically dependent status but these are limited by the protection given to non-indigenous interests and are often proving they can be very difficult to realise. Overcoming indigenous marginalisation, promoting co-existence between indigenous and other Australians, and securing sustainability...

This book looks at Alxa, in far western Inner Mongolia, China, through the eyes of farmers and herdsmen. Beautifully presented and very moving, it uses photoelicitation to connect ‘‘place to voice and place to landscape’’ (Beilin 2005, p. 57). The photographers are 23 farmers and Mongolian herders from two places in Alxa. The images they have made are captioned with their stories, recorded through interviews by Ding Pingjun and her Mongolian colleague Meng Gen. The book was developed by the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) which was founded in Alxa in 2005 (http://see.sina.com.cn/en/). It had its origins in a participatory project managed by the Development Institute for Tradition and Environment and funded by the Ford Foundation. The aim was to explore local people’s views and understandings of the environment and natural resources, and encourage them in environmental protection and community development. Alxa, or Alashan in Mandarin Chinese, is a significant source area for dust storms that impact densely populated areas of northern China, Korea and Japan, and whose frequency increased markedly around the millenium (Shao and Dong 2006). The lead-up to the Beijing Olympics focused China and the world’s attention on the impact and risk of these storms, prompting restoration efforts including progressively excluding livestock from degraded rangelands. That is one part of the story of rapid environmental change in Alxa. Another belongs to 27 year old ethnic Mongolian Wujimucao

Ecology and Society’s 2004 special feature on Traditional Knowledge in Social-Ecological Systems (http://www. ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php/feature/13) marked one of the first efforts to view traditional, local, and Indigenous knowledge and their roles in managing ecosystems through the lens of social-ecological systems (SES) resilience. This view acknowledges the importance of experimentation, learning, and pluralism to cope with uncertainty in complex adaptive systems (Folke 2004, Folke et al. 2005, Berkes and Turner 2006, Davidson-Hunt 2006, Berkes 2009). As a frame for understanding knowledge, SES resilience provided new inspiration for scientists seeking to understand Indigenous livelihoods and resource management, increasingly against the backdrop of rapid global change (Armitage and Johnson 2006, Mercer et al. 2012, Raygorodetsky 2013).

"Increasing attention to formal recognition of indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) as part of national and/or global protected area systems is generating novel encounters between the customary institutions through which indigenous peoples and local communities manage these traditional estates and the bureaucratic institutions of protected area management planning. Although management plans are widely considered to be important to effective management of protected areas, little guidance has been available about how their form and content can effectively reflect the distinctive socio-cultural and political characteristics of ICCAs. This gap has been particularly apparent in Australia where a trend to rapidly increased formal engagement of indigenous people in environmental management resulted, by 2012, in 50 indigenous groups voluntarily declaring their intent to manage all or part of their estates for conservation in perpetuity, as an indigenous protected area (IPA). Development and adoption of a management plan is central to the process through which the Australian Government recognizes these voluntary declarations and invests resources in IPA management. We identified four types of innovations, apparent in some recent IPA plans, which reflect the distinctive socio-cultural and political characteristics of ICCAs and support indigenous people as the primary decision makers and drivers of knowledge integration in IPAs. These are (1) a focus on customary institutions in governance; (2) strategic planning approaches that respond to interlinkages of stewardship between people, place, plants, and animals; (3) planning frameworks that bridge scales by considering values and issues across the whole of an indigenous people???s territory; and (4) varied communication modes appropriate to varied audiences, including an emphasis on visual and spatial modes. Further research is warranted into how governance and management of IPAs, and the plans that support these processes, can best engender adaptive management and diverse strong partnerships while managing the risk of partners eroding local control."

SUMMARY Aborigines, because of their population numbers and increasing control over land and resources, are crucial to the sustainable development of rural Australia. However, appropriate Aboriginal development requires the replacement of the ‘top‐down’ approaches generally adopted by government agencies by ‘bottom‐up’ approaches reflecting the needs and aspirations of rural Aboriginal people. Past experience demonstrates that Aborigines have faced many frustrations in reconciling these concepts. But some approaches now being adopted in the use and management of Australia's rangelands provide interesting alternatives which may be more generally applicable in enhancing rangeland sustainability. Examples include land‐use practices conducted by Aborigines living in remote homeland centres on their own freehold land, and the diversity of land uses introduced on pastoral stations now under Aboriginal ownership. Broader recognition of the value of these approaches will depend on widespread acknowledgment of the...

The paper presents a study performed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP) using a high spatial and temporal resolution silicon pixelated detector named MagicPlate-512. The study focuses on the characterisation of three pencil beams from a low-dose rate, 6 TBq, cobalt-60 source, in terms of percentage depth dose, beam profiles, output factor and shutter timing. Where applicable, the findings were verified against radiochromic EBT3 film and ionization chambers. It was found that the results of the MagicPlate-512 and film agreed within 0.9 mm for penumbra and full-width at half-maximum measurements of the beam profiles, and within 0.75% for percentage depth dose study. The dose rate of the cobalt-60 source was determined to be (10.65 ± 0.03) cGy/min at 1.5 cm depth in Solid Water. A significant asymmetry of the small pencil beam profile was found, which is due to the irregular machining of the small collimator. The average source shutter speed was calculated to be 26 cm/s. The study demonstrates that the MagicPlate-512 dosimetry system, developed at CMRP, is capable of beam characterisation even in cases of very low dose rate sources.

Two concerns of national relevance in central Australia are the continuing decline in Aboriginal health status relative to the rest of the Australian population, and the loss of environmental services. We draw on literature from a number of disciplines to show that not only are these two concerns interrelated but that dealing with them is inextricably connected through consideration of the psychosocial determinants of health. Involvement by Aboriginal people in land management can promote the joint supply of environmental and health services. We show that Aboriginal control of land management can result in economies through the joint supply of environmental and health services. However, because Aboriginal people derive little benefit from the provision of public goods generated through land management, they have little incentive to provide a socially optimal supply of these goods. The policy issue for government is the selection of the appropriate policy tools to facilitate the involvement of Aboriginal people in land management and the optimal supply of health and environmental services. The cost-effectiveness plane is used to provide a simple framework to guide the selection of an appropriate policy tool.

Context: A recent large-scale analysis of nonsynonymous coding polymorphisms showed strong evidence that an alanine to threonine amino acid change at codon 946 of the interferon-induced helicase (IFIH1) gene (SNP ID rs1990760) was associated with type 1 diabetes. Previous investigations have also demonstrated that an intronic polymorphism (termed PD1.3; SNP ID rs11568821) in the programmed cell death (PDCD1) gene was associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Objective: We sought to replicate these genetic associations in Graves’ disease and autoimmune Addison’s disease patient cohorts. Patients and Methods: A total of 602 Graves’ disease subjects, 214 Addison’s disease subjects, and 446 healthy controls were genotyped for the IFIH1 and PDCD1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms using mass spectrometer analysis of primer extension products (Sequenom). Results: The alanine-carrying allele at the IFIH1 codon 946 polymorphism was present in 796 of 1204 (66%) Graves’ disease patient alleles compared with 508 of 892 (57%) control subject alleles [odds ratio 1.47 (5–95% confidence interval, 1.23–1.76); P = 1.9 × 10−5]. In contrast, there was no association of alleles at this marker in autoimmune Addison’s disease. Neither was there evidence for association in either patient cohort at the PD1.3 polymorphism. Conclusions: We confirm a significant contribution of the Ala946Thr IFIH1 polymorphism to organ-specific autoimmune diseases, extending the range of conditions associated with this variant to include Graves’ disease. This polymorphism may also contribute to several other autoimmune disorders.

Denzil Mills, Roger Blench, Bertha Gillam, Mandy Martin, Guy Fitzhardinge, Jocelyn Davies, Simon Campbell and Libby Woodhams

Several assumptions about the levels and causes of rangeland degradation in Mongolia are widely accepted by a range of stakeholders. These assumptions have become important in terms of guiding strategies and policy directions. This paper provides a critical analysis of five widely-held assumptions about rangeland degradation in Mongolia to the more specific case of the rangelands of the Gobi Desert. These assumptions are: (i) there are too many animals; (ii) the relative increase in goat numbers has led to desertification; (iii) rainfall is declining; (iv) there is declining pasture biomass; and (v) Mongolian rangelands are degraded. Biophysical and social data from the Dundgobi and Omnogobi desert steppe areas suggest not all of these assumptions are supported all of the time, and that the processes upon which these assumptions are based are often more complex or dynamic than is commonly recognised. In designing policy and programs, more attention to these dynamics and complexities is needed.

Employment is generally considered as essential for improving individual and social livelihoods and wellbeing in Australia. Typically, employment rates are low among Aboriginal people living in remote regions of Australia. Often this is attributed to a lack of mainstream labour markets. However, Aboriginal employment participation is low even in remote places where there are employment opportunities, creating a seemingly paradoxical situation of lots of job vacancies and lots of unemployed locals. Social networks are one of the factors that contribute to this phenomenon, and that can potentially help to address it. We applied social network and social capital theory in research in the Anmatjere region of central Australia. Our findings indicate that Aboriginal people have strong and dense bonding networks but sparse bridging and linking networks. While the existence of such ties is supported by research and observation elsewhere in remote Australia, the implications for employment have not been considered from the perspective of social network theory. Dense bonding networks reinforce, and are reinforced by, Aboriginal norms of sharing and reciprocity. These underpin the Aboriginal moral economy but can have negative influence on motivation to engage with mainstream employment opportunities that are driven by workplace and market norms. Brokers who can bridge and link Aboriginal individuals and their dense social networks to potential employers are essential for Aboriginal people to be able to obtain trusted information on jobs and have entrée to employment opportunities. Brokers also foster new norms that mediate the conflicting values and expectations held by potential Aboriginal employees and employers, who are generally not Aboriginal people. Social network theory suggests that bridging and linking provides advantage to the broker. However, stress and burnout are readily suffered by the people who broker networks with divergent values in cross-cultural settings. To improve employment outcomes and expand livelihood options for Aboriginal people in remote Australia, it is essential to recognise, support and recruit brokers.

We identify four principles that can promote the prospects of health outcomes for desert Aboriginal people from livelihoods engaged with land management. The principles were derived inductively using a grounded theory approach, drawing on primary research that used qualitative and participatory methods, and from relevant literature and theoretical frameworks. International and Australian literature offers evidence that supports desert Aboriginal people’s view that their health depends on their relationship with their land. Engagement with land management can lead desert Aboriginal people to feel that their own actions are consistent with their own sense of the right and proper way for them to behave towards land, family and community. This increased ‘sense of control’ impacts positively on health by moderating the impact of sustained stress from health risk factors in the environment and lifestyle. The four principles focus on underlying characteristics of Aboriginal land management that are important to promoting this increased ‘sense of control’: (1) Aboriginal land management governance recognises and respects Aboriginal custom and tradition, and is adaptive; (2) learning is embraced as a life-long process; (3) relationships are recognised as very important; and (4) partnerships give priority to doing things that all parties agree are important. These principles are presented as hypotheses that warrant further development and testing. While they do not account specifically for the impact of lifestyle and environmental factors on health, we expect that the increased sense of control that desert Aboriginal people are likely to develop when involved in Aboriginal land management that applies these principles will moderate the impact of such factors on their health. The principles offer a starting point for further development of criteria and standards for good practice in Aboriginal land management, potentially including an environmental certification scheme that integrates social and environmental outcomes.

Arid systems are markedly different from non-arid systems. This distinctiveness extends to arid-social networks, by which we mean social networks which are influenced by the suite of factors driving arid and semi-arid regions. Neither the process of how aridity interacts with social structure, nor what happens as a result of this interaction, is adequately understood. This paper postulates three relative characteristics which make arid-social networks distinct: that they are tightly bound, are hierarchical in structure and, hence, prone to power abuses, and contain a relatively higher proportion of weak links, making them reactive to crisis. These ideas were modified from workshop discussions during 2006. Although they are neither tested nor presented as strong beliefs, they are based on the anecdotal observations of arid-system scientists with many years of experience. This paper does not test the ideas, but rather examines them in the context of five arid-social network case studies with the aim of hypotheses building. Our cases are networks related to pastoralism, Aboriginal outstations, the ‘Far West Coast Aboriginal Enterprise Network’ and natural resources in both the Lake-Eyre basin and the Murray–Darling catchment. Our cases highlight that (1) social networks do not have clear boundaries, and that how participants perceive their network boundaries may differ from what network data imply, (2) although network structures are important determinants of system behaviour, the role of participants as individuals is still pivotal, (3) and while in certain arid cases weak links are engaged in crisis, the exact structure of all weak links in terms of how they place participants in relation to other communities is what matters.

The sustainable livelihoods approach is widely used in rural development internationally but has been little applied in Australia. It is a framework for thinking and communicating about factors that impact on the livelihoods of individuals and families including their health, well being and income and the maintenance of natural resource condition. The approach aims to promote a systemic understanding of how multiple variables impact on local people’s livelihoods. Three case studies are outlined, that highlight its potential as a tool for collaborative engagement of researchers, local people and other stakeholders, to promote sustainability of Aboriginal livelihood systems in remote desert Australia and to contribute to improved understanding of the dynamics of regional socio-ecological systems.

Kangaroos are culturally significant to Aboriginal people but Aboriginal people are generally not involved in kangaroo management or in the kangaroo industry. Our research has provided the first opportunity for Aboriginal people in South Australia to present their perspectives on the commercial harvest of kangaroos. Research methods were qualitative, involving consultations with authoritative Aboriginal people about their perspectives, aspirations, and how they see their rights and interests in relation to the commercial harvest of kangaroos. We found diverse views on this topic from Aboriginal research participants. For some Aboriginal people, strict cultural protocols preclude any involvement in the commercial harvest, but for people from other regions where the cultural laws concerning kangaroos are quite different, there is interest in developing enterprises based on kangaroo harvest. Despite the diversity of views about commercial kangaroo harvest, Aboriginal people across South Australia highly value kangaroos, and want to be included in decision-making processes for kangaroo management. There is potential for appropriate engagement of Aboriginal people in kangaroo management through improved communication, greater understanding and respect for the diversity of Aboriginal perspectives and protocols regarding native wildlife.