Western Top End Area C (Revoked)

Western Top End Area C (Revoked) was a Savanna Fire Management project located in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory, approximately 120km southwest of Katherine. The project was registered in October 2015 and covered a significant area of 212,284 hectares. The region is characterized by vast pastoral leases used primarily for cattle grazing, interspersed with rugged sandstone escarpments and open savanna woodlands.

The project operated under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative-Emissions Abatement through Savanna Fire Management) Methodology Determination 2015. This methodology involves conducting strategic, low-intensity burns during the early dry season (cool burns) to reduce the fuel load on the ground. By doing so, the project aims to prevent high-intensity, uncontrolled wildfires later in the dry season, which release significantly more greenhouse gases.

Environmentally, the project area falls within the tropical savanna climate zone. The input data specifically identifies the project activities as reducing fire emissions in the "low rainfall area," which typically refers to regions receiving less than 1,000mm of rainfall annually. The soils in this part of the Victoria-Daly region are generally a mix of red earths, sandy lithosols on ridges, and extensive cracking clays (black soil plains) in the valleys.

An interesting aspect of this project is its administrative history. While the project ID (ERF102075) was voluntarily revoked in April 2018, the associated Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC102600) was successfully completed in March 2022, delivering its committed 24,000 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to the Commonwealth. This pattern often suggests a successful delivery of abatement obligations followed by a transition to a newer methodology or a restructuring of project areas, rather than a failure of the activity itself. The proponent, James Benjamin Lewis, has been associated with other fire management initiatives in the Northern Territory.