West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) Project

The West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) Project is a Savanna Fire Management project located in the remote and rugged Arnhem Land Plateau of the Northern Territory. The project area is vast, covering over 2.8 million hectares of Indigenous freehold land approximately 80km east of Jabiru and southeast of Gunbalanya. Registered under the ACCU scheme in December 2014, WALFA is widely recognized as the world's first savanna burning carbon project, having originally commenced operations in 2006 through a voluntary offset arrangement between Traditional Owners and ConocoPhillips to offset emissions from the Darwin LNG plant.

The project operates under the Emissions Abatement through Savanna Fire Management methodology. This involves Aboriginal ranger groups, including the Jawoyn, Warddeken, Djelk, Mimal, and Adjumarllarl rangers, conducting strategic "cool" burns during the early dry season (typically January to July). By intentionally burning small patches of country when vegetation is still moist, the project creates firebreaks that prevent massive, high-intensity wildfires from sweeping through during the late dry season. This shift in fire seasonality significantly reduces emissions of methane and nitrous oxide and protects biodiversity and cultural sites.

Environmentally, the project sits within the High Rainfall Zone, receiving a median annual rainfall of approximately 1180mm, primarily during the wet season (November to April). The terrain is characterized by the spectacular sandstone escarpments of the Arnhem Plateau, deep gorges, and monsoonal forests. Soils in this region are predominantly shallow and stony (Rudosols) on the plateau surfaces, with sandy loams (Tenosols) and earths found in the valleys and floodplains.

A notable administrative event occurred in February 2016, when the Clean Energy Regulator issued a notice requiring the relinquishment of 10,644 Kyoto Australian Carbon Credit Units. This type of adjustment was not uncommon for early savanna projects during the transition between the 2013 and 2015 methodology determinations, often serving to "true up" abatement calculations against updated vegetation maps or baseline data.