Merepah Fire Project

Merepah Fire Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located at Merepah Station on the Cape York Peninsula, roughly west of the town of Coen in Far North Queensland. It was registered in September 2014 and covers an expansive 183,569.75 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the cooler, early dry season. These project activities create firebreaks and reduce available fuel, which lowers the risk, intensity, and spread of destructive late dry season wildfires. By doing this, the methodology limits overall greenhouse gas emissions, with standard requirements involving calculating the abatement by establishing a historical baseline of fire emissions for the project area and comparing it against the reduced emissions achieved through the early-season burning interventions.

The regional land use around the Cape York Peninsula is largely characterized by cattle grazing, pastoral operations, and conservation on Aboriginal-managed lands. Environmentally, the area falls within the wet-dry tropics, experiencing a hot, humid climate with highly reliable, heavy rainfall during the monsoonal wet seasons. The project sits on nutrient-deficient soils typical of the cape, which predominantly feature lateritic podzolics, deep red earths, massive ironstone gravels, and scattered cracking clays.

This project serves a vital cultural and economic purpose alongside its environmental benefits. It generates a 25-year revenue stream for the Moompa-Awu Aboriginal Corporation (MAAC), which represents the Wik Iiyney and Mankanhu Traditional Owners. The revenue generated from carbon credits has funded business services, the refurbishment of the old Merepah Station, and established employment pathways for local Indigenous people to work as rangers and fire management operators. The Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) acts as the project proponent and has provided extensive capability support to the traditional owners. The project has also proven commercially steady; it secured a Carbon Abatement Contract in November 2015 that was officially marked as completed by May 2020.