Fire for the future: governance of market-based savanna fire management projects in Arnhem Land, northern Australia

Taegan Calnan; Dean Yibarbuk; Jeremy Russell-Smith

doi:10.1071/WF24129

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 33(12)

Fire for the future: governance of market-based savanna fire management projects in Arnhem Land, northern Australia

Taegan Calnan

^A ^C ^* , Dean Yibarbuk ^B and Jeremy Russell-Smith ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.

^B Warddeken Land Management Ltd., Northern Territory, Australia.

^C Murdoch University, Western Australia.

^* Correspondence to: taegan.calnan@cdu.edu.au

International Journal of Wildland Fire 33, WF24129 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF24129

Submitted: 2 August 2024 Accepted: 7 October 2024 Published: 21 November 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY)

Abstract

Background

Developing effective participatory community-based governance is a key challenge for delivering equitable outcomes in market-based carbon and ecosystem services projects.

Aim

To explore Indigenous participants’ perspectives concerning implementation of representative community-based governance model for the longest running and largest market-based savanna fire management (SFM) project in northern Australia, the Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (ALFA) projects.

Methods

The study employed semi-structured interviews conducted between 2020–2022 exploring governance priorities and outcomes with 20 Indigenous participants occupying ALFA project leadership positions.

Key results

The ALFA governance model, involving participation of Indigenous Ranger Groups (IRGs) and representation of traditional Landowners as Directors on an entirely Indigenous-led Board, was considered to provide effective SFM project oversight and broader community acceptance. Identified benefits included supporting local cultural fire and land management responsibilities, regional networking, collective decision-making for benefit-sharing arrangements. Expressed concerns included potential for external IRG hosting institutions to diminish decision-making responsibilities of traditional Landowners, and preference for local IRG’s to strengthen links to traditional Landowners to promote broad community benefits.

Conclusions

The principles of the Indigenous representative and participatory ALFA governance model serve as an instructive example for local communities in other regional settings seeking to leverage emergent development opportunities through ecosystem service economies.

Keywords: carbon markets, ecosystem services, Indigenous enterprise development, intercultural governance, multi-level governance, nature-based solutions, remote Australian community development, third space governance.

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