Indigenous perspectives on marine and coastal ecosystem restoration activities, February 2022 (NESP MaC 1.6, CSIRO)

This dataset consists of one data file (CSV) from a nationally open survey for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples involved or interested in ecosystem restoration of marine and coastal habitats. The survey elicited 8 responses, although not all were complete, and gathered perceptions of engagement in restoration by researchers and practitioners. 

The aim of this survey was to supplement a literature review that was conducted as part of a wider research project to understand challenges, barriers, and suggestions to develop a framework for the restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems. The project objective related to this data was to conduct a targeted approach to Indigenous Engagement to understand the experiences and needs of Traditional Owners. 
The survey was one of three components that fed into the NESP MAC Project 1.6 A roadmap to coordinated landscape-scale coastal and marine restoration with the three components being 1) National Survey; 2) Project workshops and 3) Indigenous engagement.

Methods:
An online survey was designed to elicit understanding of the challenges and barriers faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities and organisations in relation to coastal and marine ecosystem restoration. The survey questions were designed by the project core team. 
The survey design and methods were approved by the CSIRO Social and Interdisciplinary Science Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 139/21). The survey was distributed on 27th January 2022 and closed on 6th February 2022, with a reminder email sent on 4th February. Individuals who had previously been contacted by our research team and had shown interest in participating in these activities were contacted. The total number of responses recorded for the survey were eight (8), with three (3) responses only completing 25% of the survey.  

The responses were downloaded from Qualtrics as CSV files and analysed for contribution into the report Saunders et al. 2022  

Limitations of the Dataset:
The short project timeframe limited the opportunity for appropriate engagement; this was unfortunately exacerbated by unexpected medical leave from within the team. Therefore, our ability to appropriately engage in a larger undertaking of challenges and barriers for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples working or interested in restoration was limited. However, we were able to understand numerous barriers, gaps, and challenges in relation to appropriate recognition and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and science in restoration. 

The survey had an extremely small response rate, with only a total of 8 respondents, of which 3 were incomplete. The responses came from individuals in three states. The survey did not identify between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples so we cannot be sure which community voices have been captured.

References:
Megan I. Saunders, Nathan J. Waltham, Toni Cannard, Marian Sheppard, Mibu Fischer, Alice Twomey, Melanie Bishop, Kris Boody, David Callaghan, Beth Fulton, Catherine Lovelock, Mariana Mayer Pinto, Ian M. McLeod, Taryn McPherson, Rebecca Morris, Andrew Pomeroy, Mike Ronan, Andy Steven, Stephen Swearer  (2022) A roadmap for coordinated landscape-scale coastal and marine ecosystem restoration. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns.

Data Location:

This dataset is filed in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: data\custodian\2021-2022-NESP-MaC-1\1.6_Coastal-marine-restoration-roadmap

Tags: MARINE, National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine and Coastal Hub, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network