Western Top End Fire Management Project Area A (Revoked)

Western Top End Fire Management Project Area A (Revoked) is a savanna fire management project located in the Victoria-Daly local government area of the Northern Territory, approximately 250km south of Darwin. It was registered in September 2015 and spans a massive 663,401.64 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. This controlled burning reduces the available fuel load, which subsequently limits the risk, intensity, and size of highly destructive, late dry season wildfires that emit massive quantities of greenhouse gases.

The Victoria-Daly region is heavily defined by its tropical monsoonal climate, characterized by a distinct wet season with heavy rainfall from the northwest monsoon and very dry conditions over the winter months. The region typically features savanna woodlands and varying soil types, including cracking clays in the river basins alongside undulating, rockier terrain. The surrounding area is predominantly used for extensive beef cattle grazing on large pastoral leases, alongside Indigenous protected areas and national parks.

Interestingly, this project successfully secured an Emissions Reduction Fund contract (CAC102597) in April 2016 to deliver 160,000 tonnes of abatement to the Commonwealth. However, the contract lapsed and was ultimately terminated in November 2017 with no abatement delivered. Following this, the project itself was officially revoked on April 11, 2018, under section 30 of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule.