I found that protected area management can create livelihood benefits for communities.  Other research, in other places, has also found this. In Nepabunna the livelihood benefits are through:

• Increased employment
• Health from working on country
• Increased pride and well being within the community.

I also found that the future sustainability of Nantawarrina IPA and benefits for the Nepabunna community depend on addressing some significant governance issues.  These relate to accountability, transparency, and self determination.

Capacity for Realising and Adopting Development Opportunities

• Nantawarrina provides economic independence for those who work on the property.
• To have more economic independence, Nepabunna community needs to realise and adopt development opportunities.
• Both agency staff and community members recognise that Nantawarrina has potential to be developed for economic gain. There is a lot of talk about possible enterprises the community could invest in.
• Nepabunna community need to decide what opportunities would best suit their economic and livelihood goals, making use of their natural resources (the land, plants, animals etc) and human resources (skills, knowledge etc).

Complacency within current system

• All communities learn how to “use the system” to suit their current livelihoods.
• This creates complacency toward work or developing new enterprises.
• If people who work on Nantawarrina are paid no matter how often they work, or how much work is done, then everyone can get complacent.

Accountability for funding expenditure

• The funding Nepabunna receives for Nantawarrina IPA assists in employment and flow-on livelihood benefits.
• Nepabunna Community Council decide on how IPA funding is applied to achieve the work required to be done under the IPA agreement. Control over expenditure priorities has been empowering for the community.
• Some people have concerns about the level of accountability for the IPA funding - whether the money is being spent on things that are relevant and agreed.

Community self-determination in governance

• The community need to control economic and enterprise decision-making processes because they invest their own skills and knowledge and time (human capital) into the success of the project.
• Communities need to see what is happening on other IPAs and how they could incorporate those ideas into their management of their own property.

Educated community members move away

• Nepabunna needs to find a way of enticing educated people back into the community.
• This process would increase human capital and community self-determination. It would mean Nepabunna is less dependent on non-Aboriginal people for assistance in management of funding, applying for future grants, and developing viable enterprises.

Need for ongoing training

•  Training is an important part of ensuring the future of Nepabunna community.
•  The community wants to learn more about the practices that will help them manage both Nantawarrina and their local office at Nepabunna.
•  Nepabunna community want on-going training to build community capacity and teach the next generation valuable skills.

Inequality and concentrated control

• People who work out at Nantawarrina, in the community office, or for the Nepabunna Community Council receive employment and benefits from that employment.
• Control is concentrated in one family. This causes conflict in the community.
• Jobs are a big benefit. Allocation of jobs and other benefits needs to be fair for everyone.
• Some people question if the benefits that Nantawarrina workers get are justified and fair on the whole community.
• It’s hard for people with these questions to know one way or the other unless they can get to Nantawarrina.  Most people can’t get there because they don’t have a 4WD vehicle.

Building effective community governance

• Good governance means a community is capable of planning for the future, resolving problems, realising planned objectives and taking action.
• Nepabunna faces the same kind of challenges as many Aboriginal communities in developing and improving governance.
• Nepabunna people are uncertain about whether the community has the capacity to provide sustainable livelihood for its people under the existing governance arrangements.