With the release of the Northern Territory’s first Aboriginal Carbon Industry Strategy (ACIS), the NT Government is aiming to grow carbon projects and the industry across Aboriginal land, to provide positive economic outcomes for Aboriginal people and improved environmental outcomes for the Northern Territory.
In the announcement today, the Government said that a key role of the ACIS is to provide advice and support to ranger groups and Aboriginal landholders seeking to create sustainable enterprises through carbon abatement and sequestration. They also aim to help promote this emerging industry to new and potential partners across Australia and the world.
The ACIS focuses on five key areas of action:
- Developing a policy framework to provide certainty and a stable base for industry development.
- Improving awareness by promoting the industry across government and the wider community.
- Addressing impediments to long-term growth and project development.
- Identifying new opportunities for industry development and growth.
- Streamlining access to support services for industry start-up and development.
Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Eva Lawler said that the NT Government’s absolute priority is to create local jobs.
“The carbon industry has created hundreds of meaningful jobs in some of the remotest parts of the Territory. It has also generated significant social and cultural benefits by providing opportunities for Aboriginal people to live on and care for their traditional lands,” she explained.
“The future for the carbon industry is very exciting, this is the first strategy of its type and scale to be released in the Northern Territory and the Territory Labor Government is playing a pivotal role in developing these new opportunities”.
Chief Executive Officer of North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA), Ricky Archer, said NAILSMA has managed collaborative research into fire and carbon management since 2008.
“NAILSMA remains focused on and promotes Indigenous Knowledge systems as integral to doing Business on Country, including fire and carbon management and other Payment for Environmental Services enterprises,” he said.
Mr Archer also said that he looks forward to the cultural, environmental, social, and economic benefits this will bring to Indigenous rangers, land managers, and practitioners in the Northern Territory.