The recognition and enforcement of Indigenous customary law in environmental regimes and natural resource management

"Law" means a body of rules recognised by a society as binding. When a society accepts as legitimate more than one system of rules having different sources and in contradiction with each other, the society is said to have a polycentric, pluralistic legal system. Customary law comprises those sets of rules, established through the process of socialisation, that enable members of a community to distinguish acceptable from unacceptable behaviour and includes conventions and usages adhered to and followed by people through generations. Much more research and discussion is required on this aspect of environmental law and the rights of local communities, Indigenous and tribal Peoples. The primary emphasis, in most Ango-American jurisdictions, has been on research, policy and laws relatmg to the recognition of customary laws in the context of property rights and the criminal justice systems. In nations such as Australia, where there are no treaty rights or legal recognition of Indigenous sovereignty, recognising customary law in the sustainable use and management of resources provides some important strategies for Indigenous peoples. The reality that customary law can co-exist with the dominant legal system was powerfully and successfully upheld in the Australian High Court in the Wik case. Unfortunately, subsequent cases and statutory amendments cut short this positive and promising moment in Australian legal history.