Savanna fire management: an old practice, a modern climate method

Karbuna

14 minutes ago

4 min read

Dirt road through dry eucalyptus woodland in the Australian bush

Across the tropical savannas of northern Australia, fire is part of the landscape almost every year. What matters for the climate is when and how the land burns. Savanna fire management turns a practice refined by First Nations people over thousands of years into a method that can be measured, verified and credited.

Early fires and late fires

Northern Australia's savannas have a long dry season. Grass cures, fuel builds up and, by the late dry season, wildfires can burn hot and spread widely.

Planned burning early in the dry season works differently. Lower-intensity fires lit in cooler conditions create breaks in the fuel that limit the spread of later, more destructive fires. The Clean Energy Regulator notes that these early burns release less methane and nitrous oxide than uncontrolled late-season fires, and leave more carbon stored in logs and branches that would otherwise burn.

First Nations people have used fire in this way for tens of thousands of years. The modern method pairs that knowledge of Country with the techniques and technologies of modern science.

From ranger programmes to a crediting method

Fire abatement was organised at scale before a national crediting method existed. In western Arnhem Land, Indigenous ranger groups from five partner communities, coordinated by the Northern Land Council, began a fire abatement project in 2006. It was set up under a 17-year agreement between the operator of a liquefied natural gas plant in Darwin and the Northern Territory Government, with a minimum abatement of 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.

Savanna projects have reported abatement under the national scheme since 2012, and the methods have been revised several times. Two new methods took effect on 10 April 2026:

Emissions avoidance. Credits are based on the difference between average baseline emissions and each year's project emissions.
Sequestration and emissions avoidance. This adds credits for carbon stored in living biomass and dead organic matter, such as trees, logs and branches.

As at the regulator's August 2026 update, new projects have a 25-year crediting period and a 20-year baseline period. The land must be in the high or low rainfall zone of northern Australia, and proponents need consent from everyone with an eligible interest in it, which can include native title bodies corporate. Projects under the closed 2013, 2015 and 2018 methods continue and may transfer to the new ones.

How the carbon is counted

Emissions accounting for savanna fires generally treats the carbon dioxide released as taken up again as the vegetation regrows. It focuses instead on methane and nitrous oxide, which are much stronger greenhouse gases per tonne.

Under the ACCU Scheme, abatement is calculated with the Savanna Carbon Accounting Model (SavCAM). In August 2026 the regulator said the version for the new methods would be finalised in the second half of the year.

Benefits beyond carbon

The method is closely tied to Indigenous land management. In a June 2024 update, the Clean Energy Regulator reported that Indigenous projects accounted for 70% of the area registered under the savanna methods, that Indigenous carbon businesses generated 74% of the credits from the emissions avoidance method, and that improved Indigenous fire management covered 24 million hectares of northern savanna.

The regulator also notes that Indigenous organisations report greater capacity to care for Country, culture and communities through this work. Ranger programmes provide paid local employment.

Interest beyond Australia

A peer-reviewed reassessment published in February 2026 estimated global savanna fire emissions at about 749 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, and found that early dry-season prescribed burning could abate between 9% and 48% of that. The highest potential was in high-rainfall savannas in southern Africa, South America and Central America, with most of the gain coming from a smaller total area burnt.

Two international crediting programmes are developing methods:

Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism. A methodology proposed in October 2025 by Charles Darwin University's Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, the International Savanna Fire Management Initiative and a partner passed initial assessment in November 2025. As at March 2026, the proponents had responded to requests for clarification. A sample project document filed with it describes a pilot in northern Botswana.
Verra. As at mid-2026, a savanna fire management methodology for woody savannas worldwide was in development, after public consultation from February to March 2026.

Our view

Savanna fire management shows how a credible nature-based method can be built: long-standing knowledge on the ground, careful measurement and rules-based accounting, overseen by a regulator. It also shows that the people who know the land are central to the work, and that the consent of Indigenous peoples and local communities, and fair benefit sharing, come first.

The Gulf's deserts and coasts are very different landscapes, and savanna burning is not a method for them. The lessons still travel: a method must fit the landscape it is used in, long data records matter, and projects on community or customary land depend on consent agreed at the outset.

Karbuna is a carbon project development and management company based in the GCC. We develop and manage projects for their owners across the region, and we do not buy, sell or broker carbon credits. We see savanna methods as a useful reference for how land-based methods are designed and checked.

This article is general information only. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.