Balanggarra 1 Fire Project

Balanggarra 1 Fire Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located approximately 85km north-west of Wyndham in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was registered in February 2014 and covers 1,113,766.92 hectares.

Savanna Fire Management projects involve strategic and planned burning of savanna areas. The standard requirement of this methodology is to conduct controlled, low-intensity burns during the early dry season. This reduces the ground fuel load and prevents the spread of more destructive, higher-emission wild fires that typically occur in the late dry season, thereby earning carbon credits for the avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

The East Kimberley area is known for its vast Indigenous Protected Areas, national parks (such as the Drysdale River National Park), and scattered pastoral leases. The region experiences a monsoonal climate defined by a high-rainfall wet season and a distinct, arid dry season. The local savanna environment typically features rugged sandstone landscapes, sandy soils, and red earths.

This project is managed by the native title holders, the Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, with agency support from the Kimberley Land Council. The project activities focus on reducing fire emissions across both the high and low rainfall zones of their country. In December 2015, the project was officially varied to expand its project area and transition from the 2013 early dry season methodology to the updated 2015 methodology. As part of the broader North Kimberley Fire Abatement Project (NKFAP), the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) generated by Balanggarra 1 have provided valuable income for Traditional Owners and have been purchased by major organisations, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Qantas, to offset their emissions.