WORLD’S LARGEST FIRE STUDY PROVES SUCCESS OF INDIGENOUS FIRE MANAGEMENT

New research proves that Indigenous led fire projects have been a major success in Western Australia’s North Kimberley – one of the most fire prone regions in the world.

The study, published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire, focused on the Balanggarra, Dambimangari, Wilinggin and Wunambal Gaambera Traditional Owner groups’ fire management projects, under the collective Indigenous owned and led, North Kimberley Fire Abatement Project, established in 2008.

Link to paper: https://www.publish.csiro.au/WF/WF24092

The research looked at 22 years of data, covering 11.7 million hectares across the Indigenous groups’ lands, comparing fire metrics between the baseline, pre-Indigenous fire management years (2001–2011) and the project post-Indigenous fire management years (2012–2022) – believed to be the longest running and largest area ever examined in fine-resolution burnt area mapping.

Key findings:

Fire frequency decreased across more than 42% (1,611,132 ha) of the project area during the Indigenous management years.

Fire seasonality notably shifted from late dry season to early dry season dominance, with fewer late dry season wildfires which previously dominated the region and led to biodiversity decline. There were fewer late dry season fires across more than 67% of the project area (2,556,632 ha) during the Indigenous management years.

Early dry season fires are now a dominant component of the fire regime in the Kimberley region. These fires that still occur are mostly less severe (cooler), patchier, smaller and occur less frequently; the number of small patches (burnt or unburnt areas) less than 500 hectares increased and the number of large patches of more than 10,000 hectares decreased.

There is a greater diversity of vegetation fuel ages, and more patches of unburnt vegetation for five or more years – areas which provide extra cover for animals evading predation.

Wildfires more than 40,000 hectares in size occurred during 10 of the 11 years before Indigenous management but in only one of the 11 years under Indigenous management.

These significant fire regime improvements have been enabled by the emergence of Indigenous land and sea management programs, carbon trading markets, support roles of partner agencies, and the securing of native title land rights.

Intense wildfires were a concern to Traditional Owners as they were a consequence of reduced customary burning as outlined in the Healthy Country Plans of the four Traditional Owner groups involved.

Crucial to the study was a WWF-Australia grant to fund expert analysis of powerful satellite images, a painstaking process that took two years.

Initially landsat imagery was used with each pixel capturing an area of 28 square metres. When the Sentinel satellite launched in 2015, images with a 10 square metre resolution became available. Many previous studies used imagery with a lower resolution of 250 square metres.

Continued analysis of high-resolution fire mapping would help sustain the fire regime improvements. It would enable greater planning accuracy so that breaks in burn lines could be closed, potentially stopping late dry season fires creeping through the gaps. It would also allow accurate evaluation of fire operations.

When built on the strong foundations of traditional burning practices, these tools and technologies will sustain an innovative integration of Indigenous and western sciences to support world-leading savanna bushfire management.

Quotes

Catherine Goonack, Chair Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation, Director Indigenous Carbon Industry Network:

“Our Wanjina Wunggurr ancestors have been using fire to manage and protect our country for a long, long time. Fire is our most important thing to look after and keep our country healthy. It is important we burn the land according to our Wanjina Wunggurr Law, the right way, and at the right time of year. Our right way fire burning helps plants grow and provides us with bush foods and animals with shelter and food. Managing our wildfires using savanna burning protects our country and we are also making business from savanna burning for carbon.”

Leeanne Bear Wilinggin Member, Traditional Owner, Wilinggin’s Community Project Officer:

"There’s no other place on this earth like our beloved Ngarinyin country! Having a successful fire program is important because it helps Wilinggin to better protect and preserve its biodiversity and look after country and our cultural places. It makes jobs for our people who can earn money by looking after country like the old people, and that is a special thing.”

Luke Russ, Wilinggin Fire Manager:

“I have been privileged to be a part of Wilinggin’s fire program for 9 years now. It is a fulfilling role managing fire on country and helping to empower the Nyarinyin people. It is through lots of hard work that our efforts, and those of our NKFAP partners, have made such significant strides towards restoring a managed fire regime to the region. There is so much still to be learnt about fire and its relationships with both the Country and the Nyarinyin people and how these are entwined. Personally, I have seen the benefits firsthand, but it is also great that research like this can give a broader perspective on the successes and challenges of our efforts and help to guide our constant improvement.”

Dr Leigh-Ann Woolley, Northern Australia Biocultural Conservation Manager, WWF-Australia and co-author of the study:

“Right Way Fire is a contemporary fire practice modelled on ancient Aboriginal burning patterns pre-colonisation. Combined with cutting-edge technologies and fire science, Kimberley Traditional Owners lead the world in global best-practice savanna fire management and contribute to Australia’s emissions reduction targets, with substantial benefits for people, climate, and nature.”

Dr Rohan Fisher, Charles Darwin University and co-author of the study:

“This is a massive achievement for all Australians. On a per capita basis, Traditional Owners in North Kimberley are doing more of the heavy lifting on greenhouse gas abatement than any other group. Improving ecological health over such a vast area makes a healthier country for us all. This is the result of hard yakka out on Country, achieving great results, and we have the science to prove it.”

Background

The Savanna Fire Management Methodology (also known as Savanna Burning) enables a project to avoid the emission of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) using strategic early dry season fire management across the savannas of Australia. The methodology involves comparing the early dry season and late dry season fire emissions against a 10-year pre-management baseline average.