Western Top End Fire Management Project Area B (Revoked)

Western Top End Fire Management Project Area B (Revoked) was a savanna fire management project located in the Victoria-Daly region of the Northern Territory, approximately 80 to 120 kilometers west of Katherine. Registered in September 2015, the project covered a vast area of nearly 458,050 hectares. The region is predominantly utilized for pastoral grazing and conservation, characterized by the rugged, monsoonal landscapes typical of the Top End.

The project operated under the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Early Dry Season Savanna Burning methodology. This method involves conducting strategic, low-intensity burns during the early dry season (typically May to July) to reduce fuel loads. This practice creates fire breaks that prevent the spread of high-intensity, uncontrollable wildfires in the late dry season, thereby reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions (specifically methane and nitrous oxide). To be eligible under the 2013 determination used here, the area likely sits within the high rainfall zone, receiving over 1,000mm of average annual rainfall.

Environmental conditions in this area are defined by a tropical savanna climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The landscape features open eucalypt woodlands with a grassy understorey, often dominated by sorghum or spinifex, growing on red earth (Kandosols) or sandy soils (Tenosols).

The project was voluntarily revoked in April 2018 under Section 30 of the CFI Rule, a provision allowing proponents to request the revocation of a project declaration. Prior to this, the project held a carbon abatement contract (CAC141634) with the Clean Energy Regulator for the delivery of 190,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which was subsequently terminated or lapsed without delivery. The proponent, James Benjamin Lewis, has been associated with other fire projects in the region, such as the Claravale Fire Project.