Marion Downs Carbon Abatement

Marion Downs Carbon Abatement is a savanna fire management project located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, approximately 160km northeast of Fitzroy Crossing. It was registered on February 3, 2016, and covers an extensive project area of 251,679.42 hectares.

The Savanna Fire Management (2015) methodology involves undertaking strategic, planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. By intentionally creating firebreaks and reducing the fuel load early in the year, the project mitigates the risk, severity, and extent of destructive late dry-season wildfires, which ultimately reduces the region's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kimberley region is broadly known for remote pastoral operations (cattle grazing) and large-scale conservation efforts. The environment falls within a low-rainfall tropical savanna zone, experiencing distinct monsoonal wet seasons and dry seasons, with average annual rainfall generally falling between 500mm and 1000mm. The terrain is rugged and diverse, featuring sandstone escarpments, deep river gorges along the Fitzroy River catchment, cracking clays, and sandy loams.

Interestingly, the project area is known as the Marion Downs Sanctuary. It was formerly a privately owned cattle station that was sold after its previous owners faced financial hardship following an 800% local government rate increase. In 2008, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) purchased the property for just over $4 million using private donations and a government grant. Marion Downs now adjoins the AWC's Mornington Sanctuary, creating one of the world's largest privately owned protected areas. Today, instead of running cattle, the sanctuary provides a critical refuge for threatened wildlife, including the northern quoll, Gouldian finch, and the purple-crowned fairywren.