Abstract
Indigenous fire management is experiencing a resurgence worldwide. Northern Australia is the world leader in Indigenous savanna burning, delivering social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. In 2016, a greenhouse gas abatement fire program commenced in the savannas of south-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, managed by the Indigenous Yugul Mangi rangers. We undertook participatory action research and semi-structured interviews with rangers and Elders during 2016 and 2019 to investigate Indigenous knowledge and obtain local feedback about fire management. Results indicated that Indigenous rangers effectively use cross-cultural science (including local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge alongside western science) to manage fire. Fire management is a key driver in the production of bush tucker (wild food) resources and impacts other cultural and ecological values. A need for increased education and awareness about Indigenous burning was consistently emphasized. To address this, the project participants developed the Yugul Mangi Faiya En Sisen Kelenda (Yugul Mangi Fire and Seasons Calendar) that drew on Indigenous knowledge of seasonal biocultural indicators to guide the rangers’ fire management planning. The calendar has potential for application in fire management planning, intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledge and locally driven adaptive fire management.
Highlights
Wildfire management is an escalating issue globally, with economic, environmental, social and cultural consequences [1,2,3,4]
The Yugul Mangi Faiya En Sisen Kelenda adds to this growing collection, and aims to improve the evolving fire management practices of Indigenous land managers, while providing an effective communication tool to increase awareness of Indigenous savanna burning
Savanna burning has provided Indigenous peoples with the economic support to care for country through the fundamental practice of fire management
Summary
Wildfire management is an escalating issue globally, with economic, environmental, social and cultural consequences [1,2,3,4]. In fire-prone regions such as the Americas, Australia and parts of Asia and Africa, wildfire management presents a formidable ongoing challenge that must be urgently addressed. Beginning tens of thousands of years ago, hunter–gatherers around the world used fire to reduce fuels and manage wildlife and plants [6]. Australian Aborigines, who have inhabited Australia for sixty-five thousand years [7], maintained a complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year [8]. Fire management is driven by an Indigenous group’s cosmovision, encapsulated in Australia’s First Nations peoples’ term “caring for country,” whereby the maintenance and restoration of land and ecosystems is inextricably linked to human wellbeing, spirituality, kinship systems and culture
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