Project
Cultural Fire Credit
Traditional cultural fire practice has taken place on the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years, and has been an integral part of Indigenous land management.
At its heart, the Cultural Fire Credit is about supporting Indigenous communities to maintain and revivify this ancient and effective method of reducing wildfire hazard and protecting Country.
Our Shared Vision
The Cultural Fire Credit has been developed through a collaboration between the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and the Firesticks Alliance, drawing on the research, insights, and ideas of many individuals, organisations, and Aboriginal communities. This partnership combines expertise and experience to deliver a product that is as innovative as it is considered.
Above all, the Cultural Fire Credit is motivated by cultural maintenance and revitalisation, because with cultural revitalisation come myriad core benefits – environmental, economic, social, and cultural.
The Cultural Fire Credit provides a pathway for Indigenous-led, sustainably financed cultural burning practices across Australia.
Keen to know more? The Cultural Fire Credit Philosophy and Guidelines document details the vision, values, and principles that guide the Cultural Fire Credit; sets out guidelines for the supply, purchase, and governance of Cultural Fire Credits; and explains the benefits and verification process.
Why Cultural Burning?
Much more than just ‘cool burning’, cultural burning promotes the health of Country and community via many different roles and associated outcomes.
It supports ecosystem regeneration and reduces fuel loads by regenerating Country, thereby minimising wildfires.
It connects the next generation with their Country, maintains cultural obligations and traditional stories, and is an expression of native title rights and responsibilities.
And it provides important opportunities for First Nations peoples to earn an independent income for maintaining and reviving their cultural practices to care for Country, while sharing their knowledge and demonstrating its benefits to society.
Keep the Knowledge Alive
The practice of cultural burning falls within complex Indigenous Australian knowledge systems that hold fire lore and regulate its use and management, promoting prosperity of both people and Country.
Across Australia, precious few Indigenous cultural fire practitioners hold the depth of knowledge needed to practise cultural burning. It’s time to invest in a framework to support the sharing and practice of Indigenous fire knowledge countrywide.
About Firesticks Alliance
The Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation works to revitalise Indigenous-led cultural fire practice by fire knowledge holders, building upon and strengthening the network of Indigenous fire knowledge practitioners that has formed over the last decade.
Firesticks supports mentoring, training, and recognition of Indigenous fire knowledge practitioners, and works with Indigenous communities on all aspects of culture that are intricately linked with cultural fire knowledge practice.
Firesticks works across Australia to support communities to lead and implement cultural burning on their Country and fosters intergenerational transfer of cultural fire practice to ensure this knowledge will continue to be passed onto future generations.
“The land has been neglected and the bush has been neglected….
Alarm bells have been ringing for a long time.”
— Victor Steffensen, Firesticks Alliance
