Congratulations to our ICIN Co-Chair Dr Dean Munuggullumurr Yibarbuk for being shortlisted as a finalist for the National NAIDOC Awards in the Male Elder Award category. This comes after a lifetime of dedication and service to his community and empowering the next generation of Indigenous leaders to care for Country.

Read more about the life and living legacy of Dr Yibarbuk below.

Dr Dean Munuggullumurr Yibarbuk is a traditional owner of Djinkarr, near Maningrida, and of Yanjkobarnem in the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area. His language is Gurrgoni.

For many decades, Dr Yibarbuk has been raising concerns about the impacts of hot wildfires upon the savanna. People were taken off their Country, and hot fires decimated the landscape. Dean and other Elders wanted to reinstate traditional cool burning practices.

It was my dream to manage the fire, and to manage the Country like it was done for thousands of thousands of years. Fires have become too intense, hot fires have burnt right to the top [of the trees] and killed them. This is because of wildfire. We haven't been here managing fire, so destructive fires have come. The ways of the old people have passed, we have to find new ways to make this land healthy," said Dr Dean Yibarbuk, from Arnhem Land in this video.

Over many years, working with scientists, Dr Yibarbuk was able to prove that cool early dry season burns bring about a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as cool burning reduces the spread of hot wildfires later in the year. 

Through this important work, Dr Yibarbuk supported the development of the Savanna Fire Management carbon methodology, a research methodology that shapes how carbon projects are run, measured and managed on Country. Specifically this was done by looking at the historical emissions (over ten years) of a location without a carbon project, and then comparing this to emissions once a project was up and running, with the reduction in emissions becoming how you calculate Australian Carbon Credit Units. 

In 1991, Dr Yibarbuk helped establish the Djelk Rangers in his home of Maningrida, with the Djelk Rangers being one of Australia’s first Indigenous ranger groups. 

Some time following this, Dr Yibarbuk played an instrumental role in supporting the establishment of Australia’s first savanna fire management carbon project, the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project, which was launched in 2006. 

This project preceded the Carbon Farming Initiative Act 2011, the Australian Government legislation that established Australia’s carbon market, showing that Dr Dean Yibarbuk played an important role in establishing and leading the development of Australia's carbon market.

Dr Yibarbuk has been Co-Chair of ICIN since its formation in 2021. ICIN is the national peak body for the Indigenous carbon industry, which now has 25 full members (Indigenous organisations with carbon projects), and 13 Associate Members (Indigenous organisations with an interest in carbon).

Under Dr Yibarbuk’s leadership, ICIN enables and empowers Indigenous people to benefit from carbon and nature repair markets through their land and sea management practices.

The Indigenous carbon industry has grown to 41 Indigenous carbon projects that result in a reduction of 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions annually, significantly contributing to Australia’s climate change goals.

You can see Dr Yibarbuk’s passion for caring for Country and sharing knowledge in his reflections at the 2025 Savanna Fire Forum here.

Last year, Dr Yibarbuk was awarded an honorary doctorate from Charles Darwin University for his dedication to Indigenous ecological knowledge and his passion for empowering the next generation of leaders caring for Country. You can read the full release from Charles Darwin University here.

Dr Yibarbuk is a leader internationally. Globally, interest is growing in the success of Indigenous traditional fire practices in reducing wildfire and emissions, with conventional firefighting techniques struggling to withstand today's extreme fires exacerbated by climate change. Through his work with ICIN, Dr Dean has shared his knowledge with First Nations people from North America, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, who have travelled to attend ICIN’s annual Savanna Fire Forum, which is now widely regarded as Australia’s leading savanna fire event. The event is held annually in February and is attended by 500 Indigenous leaders, Indigenous rangers, policymakers and scientists. 

ICIN and the entire Network are so happy that Dr Yibarbuk has received this well-deserved acknowledgement.

We wish you the best for the awards ceremony in Mparntwe and whatever the outcome, we are right behind you.