Jawoyn Rangers making the most of the new carbon economy

The Jawoyn Rangers are taking full opportunity of the new carbon economy, raising funds from carbon offsets as they regenerate their traditional lands through controlled burnings.

Jawoyn land covers 50,000 square kilometres around Katherine in the Northern Territory, taking in national parks and sites of great cultural significance.

For thousands of years, Jawoyn people have been burning areas of their country to control wildfire and regenerate tracts of land. However, the recent introduction of the carbon trading market has further shown the benefit of traditional Jawoyn land management with controlled burnings reducing overall CO² emissions. This means the Jawoyn Rangers can sell carbon credits to businesses like mining companies that produce excessive CO².

Ryan Barrowei, a Jawoyn man living in Werenbun community outside of Katherine, has been a Jawoyn Ranger since 2013 but involved in traditional land care for many years. Chair of the Kakadu National Park Board, Ryan says that combining traditional Jawoyn land management practices and the carbon economy is a perfect match.

“Working as rangers has given Jawoyn people an opportunity to get out on country, look after sacred sites and help elders travel around country as well,” Ryan said.

“We organise firebreaks using traditional burning. Those firebreaks are stopping wild fires that can destroy the habitats of endangered animals or local rock art, and we are earning money through carbon credits at the same time.”

The income from carbon trading has led to the hiring of 30 casual ranger positions from different Jawoyn communities who are also helping look after Nitmiluk National Park and Kakadu.

“More of our people are getting jobs they really want and we can keep a better look out for any wildfires, feral animals or weeds,” Ryan said.

“Being a ranger is a very popular job. As soon as we advertise ranger positions we get flooded with applications from Jawoyn people wanting to be involved in looking after our country.”

“We encourage school kids to get involved and work on country. We need to teach the young people about land management and why it is so important. Because when you look after country, country looks after you.”