Blogs
Despite the conception that Indigenous Australians will be more affected by Climate Change, there exist several ways that Indigenous people can earn money off global warming. This is through carbon farming projects and reducing carbon emissions, which governments and businesses pays for.
Carbon farming is an effort to offset Carbon Dioxide (CO 2) emissions. The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) is a government scheme to encourage carbon projects. Projects may include reducing emissions through energy efficiency, reducing savanna fires, and livestock, or increasing the amount of carbon that is stored in trees and soil. The ERF is basically a financial incentive to reduce carbon emissions across any sector – if you follow the rules for a project and reduce carbon emissions you can receive carbon credits which you can sell to the government in auctions or to businesses. A carbon credit allows the holder to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. Carbon farming projects are usually worked on by Indigenous Australians, with the Australian government paying for the carbon credits generated. This is one way climate change can benefit Indigenous Australians.
An example of this is the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project which reduces carbon emissions in the Northern Territory by using controlled burns to prevent forest fire. As similar practices were undertaken by the Indigenous people who lived in this land, the WALFA project employed over 200 Indigenous part-time jobs per year. Its goal was to reduce carbon emissions by 100 000 tonnes annually but in the five years to 2010 it abated 707,000 tonnes - 140% of the original annual target. ConocoPhillips pays around $1 million a year to Indigenous ranger groups in the West Arnhem Fire Management Agreement project to provide this fire management service.
Thus, despite conceptions about the greater impact of climate change on Indigenous People, the process of ‘Carbon Farming’ can lead to Indigenous People benefiting monetarily.
By Rayan Bakker and Jake White
Bibliography
Aboriginal Carbon Fund. (2017). Retrieved August 28, 2017, from Aborigial Carbon Fund: http://aboriginalcarbonfund.com.au/
Carbon Credit. (2017). Retrieved August 28, 2017, from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/carbon_credit.asp
Carbon Farming. (2017). Retrieved August 28, 2017, from Carbon Farmers of Australia: https://www.carbonfarmersofaustralia.com.au/carbon-farming/
Dowdey, S. (2017). How Carbon Offsets Work. Retrieved August 28, 2017, from howstuffworks: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/carbon-offset.htm
Fire with fire – Capturing the story behind the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project. (2017). Retrieved August 28, 2017, from ConocoPhillips Australia: https://www.nailsma.org.au/walfa-west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-projecthtml.html
WALFA-West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement project. (2012). Retrieved August 28, 2017, from NAILSMA: https://www.nailsma.org.au/walfa-west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-projecthtml.html
