First Nations peoples of Australia have wielded fire as an extraordinarily effective land management tool for over 65,000 years. This practice lives on today through Indigenous ranger programs and support for fine-scale, cultural burning.
Cool, controlled burning not only reduces on-ground fuel and therefore the risk of wildfires, it also clears plains for traditional hunting, supports the regeneration of vegetation and maintains ideal habitat composition for native animals. A key part of this practice, passed down by First Nations peoples for millennia, is knowing which parts of Country were burned in previous years and understanding the appropriate intervals required for each landscape. Today, this is often referred to as mosaic burning.
The widespread interruption to cultural burning is one of the countless destructive outcomes of colonisation, and alongside rising global temperatures, has directly resulted in the outbreak of wildfires. By 2007, late dry-season fires accounted for 48% of the Northern Territory’s greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, around the same time, some of the Top End’s first ranger programs were forming and contributing to the gradual reintroduction of fine-scale burning, led by First Nations peoples.
As the ranger movement has continued to grow, so too has the resurgence of cool burning. Managed, early season burning reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 52%. Fires burn at a cooler temperature when there is a higher water content in the fuel load. By shifting when the burning takes place, the intensity of the fires is reduced, which limits the amount of greenhouse gases released.
For over a decade now, Traditional Owner groups have also been recording the consequent reduction in emissions through the Climate Solutions Fund. This is facilitated by Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (ALFA), which was established to support the engagement of Traditional Owners in the carbon industry. The financial return from selling carbon credits provides an independent source of income for ranger groups, enabling them to sustain fire management practices.
KKT is immensely proud to provide additional support for individual ranger groups and ALFA, particularly towards the high upfront costs associated with project establishment, registration and renewal, training and capacity-building.
