Indigenous ranger groups in the western Top End are starting a joint carbon farming business to prevent damaging wildfires.
Savanna burning during the early dry season reduces emissions from severe fires later in the year, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the air.
Rangers say better fire management will also prevent environmental damage from widespread savanna fires across the Daly River/Port Keats Aboriginal Land Trust.
Jaemie Page runs the Healthy Country program with the Thamarrurr Rangers, based in the Aboriginal community of Wadeye, 240 kilometres south-west of Darwin.
"The history of this part of the western Top End is big fires just going right across the whole land trust every year," he said.
"Virtually every square inch gets burnt so it's not good for the plants, animals, and carbon [emissions]."
Fighting wildfires
The carbon abatement project is a joint effort between Thamarrurr Rangers, Asyrikarrak Kirim Rangers, and Wudicupildiyer Rangers.
Wadeye traditional owner and Thamarrurr ranger Dominic Bunduck said it provided a unique opportunity for regional collaboration.
"Other rangers enjoy helping one another as a team," Mr Bunduck said.
The income generated from carbon credits derived from burning in the early dry season will help support traditional owners and ranger groups' firefighting efforts across the region.
"We're creating more jobs for other outstations, communities and getting more rangers to work on country and get out bush," Thamarrurr ranger Uriah Crocombe said.
The final hurdle is the approval of a Section 19 Land Use Agreement which is currently being brokered by the Northern Land Council and expected by the end of the year.
Funding from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation is providing training and equipment to prepare rangers for the 2021 dry season and beyond.
Carbon income creating jobs
While income from carbon credits is not yet accessible, rangers conducted early burns during this year's dry season and counted the tonnes of carbon abated.
"We're looking at saving about 30,000 tonnes of emissions from the average over the last few years, just by doing those big areas mainly down south that haven't burnt," Mr Page said.
Such saving of carbon amounts to roughly $500,000 based on current prices in the carbon market, and operations this year have employed more than 30 extra causal fire rangers, according to Mr Page.
Mr Page said it was an important way to diversify sources of income for ranger groups, making them less reliant on government grants.
The project could also provide benefits for other businesses in the region.
Traditional owner David Hewitt runs a bushfood business harvesting mainly Kakadu plums near the remote community of Wudicupildiyerr.
"We had a pretty rough first year, we picked about 300 kilograms of fruit, then we got burnt out," he said.
"Second year, we picked four times that amount and we got burnt out again. So fire is our biggest threat out here."
Mr Hewitt hopes the fire management and carbon abatement project boosts firefighting efforts and coordination in the land trust.
