Introduction

As part of a regular review of the IRMA program, a workshop was held by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) in January 2026 to discuss the program and ways to improve it. This workshop involved government and co-management bodies. It featured presentations, discussions and feedback to help ECC point out key issues and potential next steps to improving IRMA.

Overview

Through the workshop, participants said they lack the capacity to meaningfully engage in resource management processes. Increasing regulatory pressure and historic underfunding are some of the main issues. Participants emphasized that funding does not keep up with inflation or expectations.

They listed several other concerns including:

• Not enough funding compared to the workload expected
• Struggles to retain qualified staff
• Being unable to keep up with administrative work
• Guidelines are inconsistent
• Communication to staff is inadequate
• There isn’t enough understanding of Traditional Knowledge and community engagement activities

Programs involved acknowledged these concerns and discussed how to improve. They named potential ways to address these issues including:

• revising guidelines
• streamlining admin requirements
• improving communications with communities
• more funding

Participants asked for more regular check-ins, ways to build capacity and creating spaces to share practical knowledge.

Overall, the workshop validated IRMA’s key role in supporting Indigenous participation in land and resource management. It also highlighted the need to restructure funding that reflects real on-the-ground pressures.

Read the full report here