The Kimberley Land Council has received international recognition from Google for its tropical savanna emissions prediction tool, which estimates the carbon impact of fires.
The council’s Tyronne Garstone told the ABC the tool helped Indigenous ranger groups plan “right-way” burning early in the season to reduce the amount of land burnt by hot late-season wildfires, which release much larger amounts of methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.
“I think this is a good collaboration where we’re seeing western technology meet traditional owner knowledge,” he said.
“Wildfires are one of the largest polluters across the world, so these rangers and the initiatives that they’re doing here in the Kimberley are cutting edge.”
The tool assists groups running savanna fire management projects to predict the number of Australian Carbon Credit Units, which are granted by the national regulator, they will earn each year.
It counts the quantity of emissions reduced by project activities, compared to emissions generated by wildfires in years before the project.
