Contrasting the Aboriginal's View on the Environment and the European View on Managing Resources

In Aboriginal culture, the land is life and culture cannot be separated from the land.

After many years of European settlement in Australia, many Aboriginal people had been removed from their families and placed into schools with white Australians. This was due to the ‘protection policy’ laws that encouraged the removal of Indigenous children. Because fewer indigenous children were able to learn about their own culture, there was a slow decline in the culture of the indigenous people. As a result of this, there were continued tensions between the free settlers and Indigenous people as they had no roles in the government and couldn’t vote. This made them feel as if they were excluded from greater society and had long term negative impacts upon their sense of belonging to the new

With the arrival of large numbers of immigrants, there was also a strong negative impact on Aboriginal people. Some Aboriginal people had to leave the residence because of poor housing conditions. The shortage of housing and poor housing conditions have forced many Aboriginal people to choose unsafe housing and unsecured housing in the communities. What the aboriginal people want is what we have, to protect and freely exercise their cultural lifestyle and language. In our contemporary framework, their cultural elements can be preserved and explained, they have faced hundreds of years of social and political discrimination against discrimination and racial discrimination. They wish to be able to access to power, resources, status and meaningful decision-making capacity. In addition to these things, Aboriginals wish to be seen differently as well, not “different” in a negative way. They wish that they can have the right to protect

Aboriginal land use practices centred on the sustainable use of the land. Aboriginal Australians practiced a form of agriculture known as ‘fire stick agriculture’. This involved utilizing fire to hunt animals, by setting fire to vegetation to draw prey into the open. Doing this also increased the availability of new grass and vegetation to feed animals. Minerals from the burnt vegetation are absorbed into the soil, increasing its fertility and therefore the abundance of vegetation in the area. Ensuring that there was enough feed for animals in the wild allowed Indigenous Australians to maintain population levels of the species they hunted in a sustainable manner for thousands of years.

Firstly, Aboriginals have been run out of their native lands and what little they have left is constantly being fought over by the Natives, the government and major corporations. Mr. Norman Slotkin, a lawyer for the Union of Ontario Indians, had this to say:

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

There are still many social adversities that statistically Aboriginals are more prone to than whites such as domestic violence and substance abuse. The government aims to help out the Aboriginal community with even more benefits than the white Australian receives such as free medical care and legal services, help with housing requirements and many payment options to help those in need. Despite all this being Aboriginals on average have a lower level of employment to non-indigenous Australians and have a lower level of education. This is slightly similar to South Africa following apartheid although to less of an extent, poverty levels being higher and land still being owned by whites. It is very much similar to that of USA where their black community on average is more so in poverty than their white counterpart, although they are given the same rights and opportunities theoretically the social barriers still

This make them to be most disadvantage in our society. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have experienced social, cultural, economic, legal and political discrimination. They had experience dislocation and dispossession from their traditional land and culture. Some of them had loss of traditional languages. They are being separate from children and families. They were forbidden to speak in their own language or to practice their culture. There were laws that limiting their rights. Many had died through the disease that was brought by the European colonial. They have suffer physically, mentally and socially abuse as a result of these historical issues (Wikipedia

Human rights are the rights of humans, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or religion. We should all have this in common as we are all part of humanity. However, Indigenous people did not always have these rights (Ag.gov.au, 2015). Aside from basic human rights, Indigenous people also have their own rights specific to their culture. Before 1967, Indigenous people had different rights in different states and the Australian federal government did not have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal affairs until Australia’s constitution was amended for this purpose in 1967 (Moadoph.gov.au, 2015). Between 1900 and the present time, there have been significant changes to the rights of Indigenous Australians. The effects of the European Settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia have been devastating. When white people began arriving in Australia, the Aboriginal people believed them to be ghosts of ancestor spirits. However, once they realised the settlers were invading their land, the Aborigines became, understandably, hostile (Slater & Parish, 1999, pp.8-11). In 1788, the total Indigenous population was believed to be between 750,000 and one million. By 1888, the Indigenous population was reduced to around 80,000 Australia wide (Korff, 2014). The three main reasons for this dramatic decline were the introduction of new diseases, violent conflicts with the colonisers, and settlers acquiring Indigenous land (Digital, 2015). In 1848, the Board of National Education stated that it

The first reason why non-Aboriginal people should respect Aboriginal people is, the deeper respect that they have to the land. Aboriginal people said that the land and the people are one, and the life depends on the reciprocal respect. Also, Aboriginal people honor the land, because it supplies food, water and other assets necessary for life. They don’t own the land, because the land is for everyone. The land is their life, and when people destroy, disrespect or damage the land or their sacred place, they eradicate their

In aboriginal culture, fires are a hunting tool, a source of warmth, a cooking tool and also a way of land management (Jens Korff, 2018). Bushfire management is an important part of indigenous knowledge that enabled the indigenous people of Australia to control the scrub and manage their environment so they could control wildfires. Also so the land could then provide them with food that they needed in a sophisticated and sustainable way by burning the area they lived in. Where and how to burn the land so then it enriches the soils and rejuvenates the plants is apart of indigenous knowledge of the land. As we look back in modern times as to what they used to do, we can see that they truly understand the land and inturn know what is good for

Bill Freedmen, author of “Endangered Species—Human Causes Of Extinction and Endangerment” notes, “scientists approximate that present extinction rates are 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the average natural extinction rate.” These distressing numbers should be acted upon to save the endangered species and avoid the catastrophic change to this planet if these species were to become extinct. In order to produce change, people need to recognize that habitat loss, climate change, and poaching are all factors in why our animal species are going extinct.

Animal extinction rates have skyrocketed within recent years due to the numerous detrimental human and environmental activities that currently wreak havoc on our planet. Human beings alone are placing enough strain on animals to leave lasting and harmful effects for years to come. Due to the steadily growing population, individuals are turning untouched pieces of land into developmental projects to benefit humans. However, these sources of land are home to a multitude of species whom are now struggling to survive due to these changes to their habitat. Along with dismantling species environments, some individuals are also engaging in illegal wildlife trade in order to keep up with the growing demand for numerous types of products. In addition, deforestation is another activity humans participate in that negatively impacts animals environments to benefit their own. However, there are also numerous types of environmental activities that affect animals as well. Climate change and different types of pollution are proving to be harmful as well. Overall, unless action is taken to overcome the consequences animals currently face due to the harmful activities caused by humans and environmental factors, species will continue to fall victim to extinction.

Though the university's burgeoning squirrel population seems to indicate otherwise, species extinction is a grave problem in most parts of the world. Species are imperiled by myriad causes, but the four main perpetrators are habitat destruction and alteration, exotic or invasive species, overhunting and pollution. The gravest threat is the loss of physical habitat: The clearing or large-scale alteration of

Deforestation is the process of cutting down and burning the trees in forest and urbanizing the land. It is proven by data that forests have a shocking impact towards the planet, and modern day life. According to “Bradford, Alina”, “Around 50 percent of the planet's wild forests are gone, If the trend continues, we will only have 10 percent left by 2030.” (Bradford) Leaving different species of animals without shelters. The destruction of forests around the world is ongoing nonstop, lowering land quality and life for not only people, but also animals, in which we have to take action before it is too late.