On Tuesday 21 February, over 300 delegates will gather on Larrakia country at the 2023 North Australia Savanna Fire Forum, hosted by the Indigenous Carbon Industry Network (ICIN) for a three-day forum focused on savanna fire management and how it can be better supported.
The forum will be facilitated by Olympian and first Indigenous woman in Parliament, Nova Peris OAM (pictured below). ICIN Co-chair, Cissy Gore-Birch will be our Keynote Speaker .
Ms Gore-Birch (pictured below) is a Jaru/Kija woman with connections to Balanggarra, Bunuba and Nyikina in Western Australia. She is passionate about savanna fire management because it delivers transformational cultural, social, and economic benefits to Indigenous communities and environmental benefits to the world.
“Indigenous land managers presenting to the Savanna Fire Forum are caring for vast areas of country in some of the remotest parts of Australia, using fire as a tool. It’s great to be able to celebrate their hard work caring for country and to demonstrate the enormous amount of planning, cultural knowledge and careful consideration that goes into the work they do,” Ms Gore-Birch said.
“Hundreds of Indigenous land managers, scientists and government representatives are travelling from very remote communities and as far afield as Africa to share their experiences in the spirit of collaboration,” she said.
According to CDU North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) researcher, Dr Rohan Fisher, due to proactive fire management led by Indigenous land managers there has been a decrease in fire frequency across 640,000 km2 (52%) of northern Australia over the last 15 years – an area almost three times the size of Victoria.
“This achievement is despite more extreme fire weather being experienced across much of the north,” Dr Fisher said.
The North Australia Savanna Fire Forum will be held at Charles Darwin University Casuarina Campus from Tuesday 21 February to Thursday 23 February 2023. Download program or check www.savannafireforum.net for further detail.
The Indigenous Carbon Industry Network is a charitable company owned by its full members, including 23 Indigenous land management organisations that own carbon projects. The network has hosted the Savanna Fire Forum since 2019, with support from the CDU Centre for Bushfire Research and NAFI.
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