Cool Fire

Fighting fire with fire

Certification  |  ACCU

In the absence of fire management by Aboriginal Traditional Landowners, Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory is prone to extreme, devastating wildfires that damage the landscape including rock art galleries, cultural sites and biodiversity. ALFA – Arnhem Land Fire Abatement is an Aboriginal owned, not-for profit carbon farming business, that supports Aboriginal Traditional Owners and rangers to utilise customary fire knowledge and skills in tandem with contemporary technology to accomplish highly sophisticated landscape scale fire management. Their projects deliver significant emissions reductions whilst supporting environmental, cultural and social outcomes.

ALFA currently supports Traditional Owners to manage five fire projects across an area of over 80,000 km2. Controlled burns are conducted early in the dry season to reduce fuel on the ground and establish a mosaic of natural firebreaks, preventing bigger, hotter and uncontrolled wildfires later in the season. Using both aerial burning (incendiary pellets dropped from helicopters) and ground burning, rangers burn strategically, adding to natural breaks such as moist ground along creeks, cliff lines and tracks to create unburned ‘compartments’ surrounded by burned breaks. Rangers manage fire across a range of ecosystems including the escarpments, gorges and sandstone heaths of the Arnhem Plateau.

The projects provide employment and training opportunities for local rangers while supporting Aboriginal people in returning to, remaining on and managing their country. Communities are supported in the preservation and transfer of knowledge, the maintenance of Aboriginal languages and the wellbeing of traditional custodians. Preventing wildfires also reduces the risk of wildlife loss and protects the areas surrounding ancient rock art sites.

The project meets the following Sustainable Development Goals