Abstract: In 2005, in response to three significant problems in the southern Gulf region - the long-term lack of employment activity and the entrenched social problems that this inactivity has been linked to, the challenges families face to live on their ancestral lands because of the lack of service provision, and the menace of large-scale environmental degradation to their property from threatening ecological processes, such as wildfires and invasive species - the Garawa and Waanyi peoples instigated community-based land management programs. In this seminar Mr Jack Green, Senior Waanyi and Garawa Cultural Advisor and Mr Jimmy Morrison, Waanyi/Garawa Ranger Coordinator report on the successes of the programs as well as the obstacles to further development.