Over thousands of years, indigenous peoples of the north of Australia have used fire for a range of environmental management, livelihoods and cultural purposes. This history and use of fire is evident both from the scientific evidence and from the cultural histories and first hand testimonies of the peoples themselves.
Traditional fire management practices were largely concentrated in the early dry season, with such early, managed burning, helping to prevent the more intense, destructive fires that would otherwise happen in the later, hotter part of the dry season. These practices correspond with what we now know to have a reduced emissions profile compared to that occuring in the absence of managed burning.
Traditional fire management was interrupted through colonisation and the subsequent policies which separated indigenous peoples from their traditional country. Savanna burning projects such as the WALFA project are now ensuring that indigenous peoples are able to exercise their cultural obligations to look after country. In so doing, Australia’s indigenous peoples are providing an environmental service not only to the wider Australian population, but to the international community as a whole.
Australia’s indigenous people are not unique in their traditional knowledge and use of fire. Many communities in fire dependent landscapes in Africa, Latin America and Asia have their own fire knowledge and traditions.
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