Sam's Blog – Indigenous Environmental Services

In my several decades long career in the area of Indigenous engagement and Indigenous development my vision has been to try to link development and engagement with economic independence; my vision has been to create a lasting impact on the ability of communities and businesses to participate in the commercial reality that is the Australian economy.

The agricultural boom of the past century, where Australia rode the sheep’s back, passed my people by. The mining boom that saw enormous money being made; by companies, governments and individuals largely left Indigenous communities as they were. The coming of the I.T. explosion and the resultant dot com revolution saw businesses create wealth for their owners and employees; again Indigenous Australia was not positioned to participate and benefit.

The carbon opportunity:
The imminent carbon constrained economy, with global revenues in excess of US$70 billion in 2007/2008 is now set to start making its impact on the Australian economy. The expectation is that a significant proportion of new jobs in the upswing will be jobs created in the new “green economy”.

In my view, this is a generational opportunity for our communities to benefit by exploiting the regulations and technologies, as they present themselves, to create businesses, jobs, income streams and wealth.

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is a forty year project with the end goal set for 2050. It requires a high level of engagement from all stakeholders within the Indigenous community to mitigate the risks and to realise the opportunities associated with crucial issues such as carbon emissions and the price of energy.
Leadership is necessary not only because of the intricacies of the subject matter but also in order to build and nurture the specialist expertise that indigenous communities and businesses will need to call on over the next four decades.