Healthy Country, healthy people: how shared knowledge is helping to restore a World Heritage area.

A partnership between Western science and Traditional Owners is working to restore seagrass meadows in Gathaagudu/Shark Bay, Western Australia. The seagrass was damaged by an extreme marine heatwave in 2010-11, impacting culturally significant species such as dugongs and green turtles. The project, which employed Malgana land and sea rangers, aimed to develop restoration methods using both Western science and Indigenous knowledge. The partnership recognized the deep ecological knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and provided opportunities for Indigenous rangers to connect with Country and gain industry qualifications. The project's success highlights the importance of combining diverse knowledge inputs to address environmental challenges and heal intergenerational trauma. [Extracted from the article]