A version of this Topical Issue was provided as a submission to the Australian Government’s discussion paper Review of Caring for Our Country: Australia’s Natural Resource Management Investment Initiative.

This paper has a specific focus on lessons we have learnt from working with Indigenous peoples engaged in cultural and natural resource management projects in northern Australia and New South Wales. It is based on action research currently being undertaken under the five-year research project People on Country, Healthy Landscapes and Indigenous Economic Futures (PoC) and a related three-year project investigating the socioeconomic benefits of Aboriginal people being involved in the sustainable management of their country in NSW.