Mapoon Carbon Project

Mapoon Carbon Project is a savanna fire management project located on the western Cape York Peninsula, approximately 75km northeast of Weipa and near the community of Mapoon in Far North Queensland. It was registered in October 2014 and covers 175,588.48 ha.

Savanna fire management projects involve strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. This practice reduces the fuel load, which decreases the risk, intensity, and extent of destructive late dry season wildfires, thereby reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The Cape York region is characterised by Indigenous traditional land uses, conservation areas, and some cattle grazing and bauxite mining. The environment is classified as a tropical high rainfall zone, and the soils are typically sandy, infertile Kandosols that are often lateritic or bauxitic.

The project is run by the Old Mapoon Aboriginal Corporation, employing local Indigenous rangers and combining traditional fire management knowledge with modern carbon farming. This creates job opportunities and additional revenue streams for the Traditional Owners. Notably, the project varied its methodology in May 2016, updating from the 2013 savanna burning determination to the 2015 emissions abatement methodology.