South East Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Stage 2 (SEALFA2)

South East Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Stage 2 (SEALFA2) is a savanna fire management project located approximately 53km west of Numbulwar in the Northern Territory. Registered in January 2016, the project spans an impressive 986,277.57 hectares across the South East Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area. The regional land use is heavily focused on traditional Aboriginal land management, cultural and ecological conservation, and carbon farming.

The project operates in the Australian tropical savanna, an environment characterised by a wet-dry tropical climate. Specifically, SEALFA2 focuses on the low rainfall zone of this region. The landscape features open eucalypt woodlands with a mix of sandy soils, lateritic (ironstone) profiles on rugged sandstone plateaus, and sandy loams over clay across the coastal plains and river floodplains.

Savanna fire management methodologies require operators to undertake strategic, controlled burning during the early dry season. By creating a mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas, this standard practice drastically reduces the fuel load, which prevents the outbreak of intense, highly destructive wildfires during the late dry season. The project earns Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) by quantifying the reduced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide using the SavBAT 2.2 estimation model.

A notable aspect of SEALFA2 is its proponent, ALFA (NT) Limited, an entirely Aboriginal-owned, not-for-profit carbon farming business. The project is implemented on the ground by Traditional Owners and local Indigenous ranger groups, primarily the Numbulwar Numburindi and Yugul Mangi Rangers. All income generated from the sale of ACCUs is reinvested directly back into the community to support Indigenous ranger programs, address community disadvantage, and protect the ecologically and culturally rich landscape of Arnhem Land.