Native title - A right to burn and fire the land? Savanna burning and the carbon farming initiative in northern Australia

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 30, Issue 6, 2013, Pages 553-559

  O'Donnell, Michael ^a  

^a John Toohey Chambers   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBON EMISSION; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; LAND MANAGEMENT; RAINFALL; SAVANNA;

AUSTRALIA;

EID: 84886770417     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. Gammage B, The Biggest Estate on Earth How Aborigines Made Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2012) p 2.
2. Gammage B, n 1, p 1.
3. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 49.
4. Williams RJ, Carter J, Duff GA, Woinarski CZ, Cook GD and Farrer SL, ";Carbon Accounting, Land Management, Science and Policy Uncertainty in Australian Savanna Landscapes: Introduction and Overview"; (2005) 53 Australian Journal of Botany 583 at 583.
5. Williams RJ, et al, n 4 at 583.
6. Williams RJ, et al, n 4 at 583,
7. as quoted from Williams RJ, Cook GD, Ludwig JL and Tongway D, "Torch Trees, Teeth and Tussocks: Disturbance in the Tropical Savannas of the Northern Territory, Australia" in Klomp N and Lunt I (eds), Frontiers in Ecology: Building the Links (Elsevier, 1997).
8. Williams RJ, et al, n 4 at 584.
9. Williams RJ, et al, n 4 at 584.
10. Northern Territory Climate Change Policy (2009), p 46.
11. Australian National Greenhouse Accounts, State and Territory Greenhouse Gas Inventories, 2009-10 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2012) p 9, http://www.climatechange.gov.au/~/media/climate-change/emissions/2011-12/StateAndTerritoryGreenhouseGasInventories-2009-10.pdf.
12. Macintosh A and Waugh L, An Introduction to the Carbon Farming Initiative: Key Principles And Concepts (CCLP Working Paper Series 1, 2012) p 11.
13. Australian National Greenhouse Accounts National Inventory Report 2010 (Vol 1).
14. Australian National Greenhouse Accounts National Inventory Report 2010 (Vol 1), pp 23, 35, 39.
15. Fitzsimons J, Russell-Smith J, James G, Vigilante T, Lipsett-Moore G, Morrison J and Looker M, ";Insights into the Biodiversity and Social Benchmarking Components of the Northern Australian Fire Management and Carbon Abatement Programmes"; (2012) 13(1) Ecological Management & Restoration 51 at 51.
16. Fitzsimmons, et al, n 14 at 51.
17. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 4.
18. Macintosh A and Waugh L, n 11, pp 7-10.
19. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 5.
20. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 53(1).
21. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 55(1).
22. Macintosh A and Waugh L, n 11, pp 16, 17.
23. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [1.6].
24. The consent of an eligible interest in land must be given: s 27(4)(k).
25. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), ss 27(4)(e) and (f), 41, 106(1).
26. Explanatory Statement, Carbon Farming (Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Early Dry Season Savanna Burning) Methodology Determination (2012) p 2.
27. Explanatory Statement, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) (Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Early Dry Season Savanna Burning - 1.1) Methodology Determination (2013) p 2.
28. Australian Government, CFI Methodology: Savanna Burning (Fact Sheet, Department of Climate Change, 2012).
29. Explanatory Statement, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) (Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Early Dry Season Savanna Burning - 1.1) Methodology Determination (2013) p 13.
30. Carbon Farming (Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Early Dry Season Savanna Burning) Methodology Determination at [2.1], p 8.
31. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [5.45].
32. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Regulations 2011 (Cth), reg 3.28(1)(g).
33. Durrant N, "Legal Issues in Carbon Farming: Biosequestration, Carbon Pricing, and Carbon Rights" (2011) 2 Climate Law 525.
34. Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 11 December 1997
35. ILM 22 (entered into force on 16 February 2005) at [6.1(b)].
36. Macintosh A and Waugh L, n 11, pp 18, 27.
37. North Australian Land and Sea Management Alliance, WALFA - West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project (2012), http://nailsma.org.au/walfa-west-arnhem-land-fire-abatement-project.
38. Australian Government, Register of Offsets Projects (Clean Energy Regulator, 2013), http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/Carbon-Farming-Initiative/Register-of-Offsets-Projects/Pages/fish-river-fire-project.aspx.
39. Brann M, "Cattle Giant to Cash in Carbon Credits", ABC Rural (20 September 2013).
40. Western Australia v Ward (2002) 213 CLR 1 at [25].
41. Commonwealth v Yarmirr (2001) 208 CLR 1 at [97], [98].
42. Western Australia v Ward (2002) 213 CLR 1 at [26].
43. Eg see Daniel v State of WA [2003] FCA 1425 at [30], [31] (cook and light fires)
44. Ward v Western Australia [2006] FCA 1848 (light camp fires).
45. Bushfires Act (NT), ss 33, 34, 35.
46. Bushfires Act (NT), ss 39, 43, 46.
47. Western Australia v Ward (2002) 213 CLR 1 at [26], [265].
48. As referred to in the appeal Commonwealth v Akiba (2012) 204 FCR 260 at [5], [37].
49. A RNTBC is mandated by the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), s 55, 56, 57 to either hold the native title on trust or act as agent for the native titleholders.
50. Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), s 225(e).
51. The RNTBC is taken to be the project proponent regardless of whether the native title is held on trust or not: Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.12], [4.13].
52. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 46.
53. No doubt any legal requirements to obtain a permit to light fires must still be met.
54. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.24].
55. In some cases where the non-extinguishment principle under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) applies to provide for an exclusive possession outcome then consent of the other interest holder will still be required (at [4.22]).
56. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [3.34], [4.27].
57. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.41].
58. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.28].
59. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.28], [4.29].
60. Explanatory Memorandum, Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 (Cth) at [4.51]-[4.54]. This may be overcome to some extent if these native titleholders are classified as an eligible interest in the future, at least for sequestration projects.
61. Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), s 43(9).
62. Australian Government, Repeal of the Carbon Tax and Introduction of the Direct Action Plan (media release, Department of the Environment, 29 September 2013).