Northwest Arnhem Land Fire Abatement

Northwest Arnhem Land Fire Abatement is a savanna fire management project located in the remote West Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory, approximately 60km north of the town of Gunbalanya. It was registered in December 2022 and covers a massive 665,192.07 hectares of Aboriginal freehold land. The primary land use in this remote region is traditional Aboriginal land management and conservation, preserving culturally and ecologically significant landscapes.

Savanna fire management (emissions avoidance) projects involve strategic, planned burning during the cooler early dry season. By safely reducing vegetation fuel loads while they still hold moisture, the project standardly aims to reduce the frequency, intensity, and extent of destructive late-dry-season wildfires. This proactive approach significantly reduces the greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise be released by uncontrolled, hot fires.

The Northwest Arnhem Land region is classified as a high rainfall tropical savanna zone. The environment features rugged sandstone escarpments, monsoon rainforests, intact river ecosystems, and coastal floodplains. Soils across the Arnhem Land plateau are predominantly shallow, infertile sandy lithosols closely associated with the underlying sandstone.

The project is operated by ALFA (NT) Limited, an entirely Aboriginal-owned, not-for-profit carbon farming business. On-ground fire management is carried out by traditional owners and local Indigenous ranger groups, specifically the Garngi, Mardbalk, and Adjumarllarl rangers. All income generated from the sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) is reinvested into these communities. This funding supports vital local employment, community development, and the protection of native biodiversity and tens of thousands of ancient rock art sites spread across the Arnhem Land estates.