In August, the Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (ALFA) NT held its board meeting on remote Malnyangarnak, the Country of one of its directors Dr Otto Bulmaniya Campion (Gamarrang), with ICIN invited to attend.
In attendance were 14 of ALFA’s 18 Aboriginal board directors, who all own and run savanna fire management carbon projects on their Country, and ALFA staff members. This is the first time ALFA has held a board meeting at Malnyangarnak, with directors travelling from near and far to be there.
Otto, who is the third generation in his family to be living back on his Country, welcomed everyone with local stories about mosquitos, fish, tiger sharks and paper bark and singing in language.
The meeting was held at the newly built Arafura Swamp Ranger Aboriginal Corporation (ASRAC) satellite ranger base, now supported with solar panels, internet through a Starlink connection and computers. This satellite ranger base, one of five remote bases made possible due to revenue from sales of carbon credits through ALFA, supports Otto to live and work from Malnyangarnak.
“We want to support people on Country, with traditional practices, earning money. Through our carbon programs we are filling a gap, we are not a mining company, we are a not-for-profit, the money we make goes back into the community. We are not here to make money from people, but to bring people back on Country,” said Otto.
ALFA director Charmaine Minkirrkirr, a senior ranger from the carbon project NALFA, travelled to be there from South Goulburn Island, in north Arnhem Land.
“Carbon money on my Country is funding weed control, gamba grass and mimosa, and I’m also putting in an application for grant money to develop the ranger base more,” said Charmaine.
A pre board meeting day allowed men and women to split into two different groups to cover cultural governance and agenda setting, followed by an afternoon out on Country.
The Board meeting covered a range of topics, including the development of new carbon methods applicable to Arnhem Land - the two new savanna fire methods under consultation and the ‘blue carbon’ method about the management of hard hooved animals which is currently under development.
Issues that generated a lot of discussion included climate change, changing weather patterns and shrinking window for safe early dry season burning, and the increasing damage done to Country by hard hoofed animals, mainly buffalo in this region. It was noted that the new ‘blue carbon’ method mentioned above, once available, could bring good opportunities to improve buffalo control to protect Guruwilling, the extensive Arafura Swamp wetlands – one of the largest and most productive freshwater wetlands in the world.
“Weed, fires and ferals all come together. We have people on Country telling us how bad Country is because of feral animals. People want to see their waterlilies, they want to see their healthy Country, and healthy wetlands. When 3000 buffalo were taken off Country, we saw a huge increase in the amount of crocodile eggs,” said Otto.
At the meeting, three renewed Land Use Agreements (LUAs) were officially signed for the following ALFA carbon projects: WALFA, CALFA and SEALFA. The consultation process, informed by the Free, Prior and Informed Consent guidelines, took over four years to undertake. This involved speaking with all of the clans with interests in those carbon project areas across much of Arnhem Land – which is roughly equivalent to 1.25 times the size of Tasmania.
We thank Otto and his family for generously hosting us on his Country Malnyangarnak.