Community-Based Management of Saltwater Country, Northern Australia

Dominant social and political constructions of ‘saltwater’ assume marine environments to be common property resources, justifying jurisdiction and management responsibilities by the State. However, in northern Australia ‘saltwater country’ is gaining recognition as a cultural landscape with customary law defining ownership and management rights and responsibilities. Samantha Muller looks at the role of the Dhimurru Sea Country Plan in asserting community-based management strategies through a self-defined planning process founded in local aspirations and concerns. She argues that in challenging statist discourses of saltwater ownership, management and planning, Dhimurru offers insights for ‘post-development in practice’. Development (2008) 51, 139–143. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100465