Forests for People

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conservation.

Conservation alliances have been forged based on

recognizing the significance of forests and other environments to

Indigenous peoples and the need to support Indigenous commu-

nities in their efforts to access forests and be involved in forest

management decision-making.

The recent Cape York Tenure

resolution process, for example, has led to 1.5 million hectares

of high conservation land being returned to traditional owners.

850,000 hectares of this land is now a national park with the

Indigenous peoples’ consent and is supported through a formal

co-management agreement.

Recent land reacquisitions supported by Government policy and

funding initiatives, have also enabled Indigenous groups to maintain

or establish their own forest enterprises for timber and firewood

production.

Forestry on Indigenous-held lands is specifically

supported by the National Indigenous Forestry Strategy, whose aims

include improved economic and social outcomes for Indigenous

communities and peoples through more active involvement in the

forest and timber products industry,

as well as land reacquisi-

tion to assist Indigenous peoples to acquire and manage land to

achieve the full spectrum of economic, environmental, social and

cultural benefits in keeping with the mission of the Indigenous Land

Corporation.

National and international demands for greenhouse gas offsets

is also increasing, offering important opportunities for Indigenous

Australians to be involved in emerging carbon markets. Under

Australia’s Carbon Farming Initiative, reforestation of previously

cleared agricultural land is one of the greatest opportunities for

Indigenous Australians to generate carbon offset income in eastern

and southern Australia.

With the emerging carbon economy,

there is also a strong incentive for improving fire management

to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to protect biodiversity.

Indigenous leaders from across Australia have expressed a desire to

achieve a spectrum of goals from reforestation, fire management and

other carbon offset management activities, from solely economic

and employment benefits to broader environmental and cultural

outcomes.

Savanna burning activities that now occur across northern

Australia meet an unprecedented confluence of interests: green-

house gas abatement, biodiversity protection, and culturally

appropriate economic opportunity for historically marginal-

ized communities.

In the West Arnhem Land Fire

Abatement (WALFA) project, Indigenous traditional

owners and ranger groups have been employed to

undertake prescribed burning early in the dry season,

which limits the extent of unmanaged wildfires later

in the season and thereby reduces overall greenhouse

gas emissions and protects the biodiversity values of

adjoining Kakadu National Park. It has led to impor-

tant cultural enrichment for Indigenous peoples,

reconnecting them to their traditional homelands,

rekindling interest in traditional ecological knowledge,

and providing opportunities to pass on this knowledge

to younger generations.

The WALFA project has

received $A17 million from energy company Conoco-

Phillips as an investment in offsetting greenhouse gas

emissions.

Improved fire management right across

Australia’s savanna biome has the potential to abate

more than 2.25 million tons of CO

each year,

and

a range of WALFA-type projects are now being devel-

oped throughout the region.

Forest conservation, fire management and other

forest management activities being pursued across

the country provide much needed livelihood oppor-

tunities for many Indigenous communities, some of

whom represent Australia’s most socially disadvan-

taged sector, and are taking place where mainstream

economies are very limited. Many elders have a

strong desire to fulfil their cultural obligations by re-

establishing connections with forests as part of their

efforts to sustain their communities and traditional

estates.

Yet institutional arrangements and embed-

ded cultural values underpinning forest access,

management and ownership have not historically been

designed in collaboration with Indigenous Australians

and have created significant inequity and conflict.

Reforms to forest management and governance

needs to continue, based on a solid understanding

of this conflict to ensure forests can be redeveloped,

conserved and re-imagined to be assets for Indigenous

peoples of Australia.

Reforestation projects for Indigenous landholders

Tiwi Carbon Study: managing fire for greenhouse gas abatement

The Indigenous Land Corporation estate spans several

forms of ownership or title on behalf of local people

and includes approximately 55,000 hectares that

has been cleared and is potentially available for

reforestation projects to generate carbon offset income.

Between 400,000 and 600,000 tons of CO

e yr-1 can

be sequestered in above- and below-ground biomass

in mixed biodiversity plantings and/or monoculture

hardwood plantations on these lands.

The estimated

net annual returns for these reforestation projects is in

the order of $A4 million – 7 million yr-1, assuming non-

harvested carbon sinks and a carbon price of $A23.00

per ton CO

e, and factoring in establishment and

management costs of plantations.

If timber harvesting

were included in the final Carbon Farming Initiative

or if non-timber products such as

eucalyptus

oil were

to be harvested, financial returns and employment

opportunities could be significantly higher.

The Tiwi Islands north of Darwin in the Northern Territory have

exceptional natural and cultural values, sustaining many endemic plant

and animal species and having a long history of indigenous ownership

and management. About half of the 6,500 km

of savanna woodlands

and open forests is burnt each year. The Tiwi people are working

with CSIRO to examine the biophysical and economic potential of fire

management for greenhouse gas abatement on their lands, as a basis

for possible livelihood opportunities. The project features 18 long-term

experimental plots (each 50-100 ha) arranged along an environmental

gradient on Melville Island and subject to different fire management

options. Tiwi land management rangers are working with CSIRO

scientists to document the effects of fire on emissions of methane and

nitrous oxide, above- and below-ground carbon storage and biodiversity.

Combined with social research on the willingness and capacity of Tiwi

people to change current fire management practices, the results are

being used to develop an integrated Tiwi fire management plan that

best meets the cultural, environmental and economic aspirations of

Tiwi people.