AIMS Indigenous Reef Futures and Pilot Deployment Program

Operations Manager Uncle Sonny Van Issum is on the The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP) Steering Committee which aims to develop and test scientific solutions to help us to better manage the Great Barrier Reef in the face of threats such as global warming. RRAP is dedicated to collaborating and creating this innovative toolkit of safe, acceptable interventions to help the Reef resist, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change.

The Woppaburra TUMRA is working with AIMS and other Traditional Owners to test these interventions on a bigger scale through a pilot trials phase called the Pilot Deployments Program (PDP) and Indigenous Futures (IF) Program. The PDP is the operational testing phase of RRAP, dedicated to understanding and improving the feasibility of delivering interventions at scale on the Great Barrier Reef. AIMS plays a critical role in managing and coordinating RRAP’s extensive
research and development activities.

The Indigenous Futures Program

The efforts of RRAP’s Indigenous Futures Program will be expanded by empowering Woppaburra and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to take the lead in caring for sea Country, through innovative reef restoration methods emerging out of RRAP research and development. The program emphasises cultural safety, mentorship, and measurable accreditation through collaboration with the Australian Vocational Education and Training sector and aims to position our young Rangers as leaders of the emerging reef restoration industry.

Photo Credit GMolinaro

The RRAP IF program focuses on three major goals:

1. Develop accredited training in marine monitoring and coral restoration
2. Deliver accredited training to Indigenous rangers
3. Train a pilot cohort of Indigenous rangers (minimum of ten) employed across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in coral reef restoration and marine monitoring
   

Marine monitoring and coral restoration information collected from this project will be combined with existing information to enhance the long-term monitoring of Sea Country and contribute to the research and development of PDP and RRAP.

Ranger Ameron Cleland said “The Reef Futures Program has helped me to better understand how to keep our reefs healthy. It has also helped me to reconnect with Country and gives me a great sense of wellbeing knowing that I am playing a part in keeping not only the reefs alive but keeping indigenous culture alive and well, making ancestors proud throughout the nation