ICIN would like to congratulate our Co-Chair Dr Dean Munuggullumurr Yibarbuk for being shortlisted as a finalist for the National NAIDOC Awards (Male Elder Award). 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.  

During the 1990s, Dr Yibarbuk raised concerns about the impacts of hot wildfires upon the savanna. People were taken off their country, then hot fires decimated the landscape. Dean and other Elders wanted to reinstate cool burning practices. 

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 the 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.   

In 1991, Dr Yibarbuk helped establish the Djelk Rangers in his home Maningrida, the Djelk rangers being one of Australia’s first ever Indigenous ranger groups. Some time later on 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 (WALA) project in 2026. This project preceded the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) Act - the Government policy that established Australia’s carbon market – which occurred in 2011. 

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.   

Since 2021, the Indigenous carbon industry has grown to 40 Indigenous carbon projects that result in a reduction of 1.2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (Carbon dioxide equivalent) annually, significantly contributing to Australia’s climate change goals.  

Leading up to this, for many decades, Dr Yibarbuk dedicated his life to Indigenous land conservation and management in West Arnhem Land.  

You can watch for yourself Dr Yibarbuk's passion in caring for country and knowledge sharing in his reflections at the 2025 Savanna Fire Forum here.  

Last year, Dr Yibarbuk was awarded an honorary doctorate from Charles Darwin University (CDU) for his dedication to Indigenous ecological knowledge and passion for empowering the next generation of leaders caring for country, you can find the full release from CDU here.  

Dr Yibarbuk is a leader locally and internationally. Through his work with ICIN, 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 – now Australia’s leading savanna fire event. This event occurs annually in February and is attended by 500 Indigenous leaders, Indigenous rangers, policy makers and scientists.  

ICIN, and the entire Network, is so happy that Dr Yibabruk 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.