The challenge
Hot late dry-season wildfires were burning huge areas of savanna and releasing large amounts of emissions.
The case
The West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project in Australia’s Northern Territory covers about 28,000 square kilometres. Aboriginal ranger groups, including the Djelk, Warddeken, Mimal, Jawoyn and Adjumarlarl rangers, light cooler, patchy fires early in the dry season, following traditional practice, to break up fuel before the hot late-season fires. From 2006 the gas company operating the Darwin LNG plant agreed to pay about A$1 million a year for 17 years to offset its emissions. Early results reported a cut of about 488,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent over the first three years, around 140,000 tonnes a year, above the 100,000-tonne target. The approach became an official Australian carbon-credit method and has since spread across northern Australia.
Why it worked
Paying for measurable emission cuts gave a lasting income stream for Indigenous land management and jobs. The model relies on burning being repeated every year.
Sources
- ScienceDaily (2009). Traditional indigenous fire management techniques deployed against climate change.
- Carbon Market Institute. West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) Project.
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