Indigenous fire management is experiencing a resurgence worldwide. Northern Australia is the world leader in Indigenous savanna burning, delivering social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. In 2016, a greenhouse gas abatement fire program commenced in the savannas of south-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, managed by the Indigenous Yugul Mangi rangers. We undertook participatory action research and semi-structured interviews with rangers and Elders during 2016 and 2019 to investigate Indigenous knowledge and obtain local feedback about fire management. Results indicated that Indigenous rangers effectively use cross-cultural science (including local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge alongside western science) to manage fire. Fire management is a key driver in the production of bush tucker (wild food) resources and impacts other cultural and ecological values. A need for increased education and awareness about Indigenous burning was consistently emphasized. To address this, the project participants developed the Yugul Mangi Faiya En Sisen Kelenda (Yugul Mangi Fire and Seasons Calendar) that drew on Indigenous knowledge of seasonal biocultural indicators to guide the rangers’ fire management planning. The calendar has potential for application in fire management planning, intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledge and locally driven adaptive fire management.
Contemporary Indigenous cultural fire management facilitates opportunities for Indigenous peoples to connect to and manage their Country, as well as providing scope for research. Right-way science is defined as collaborative process of bringing Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge and methods together to create ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. Five key requirements of right-way science emerge from the literature, including: building relationships and trust; formal research approval processes; co-development of research; acknowledging challenges; and ethical, productive and mutually beneficial research. This article explores the question: how can right-way science enhance Indigenous cultural fire management? By reflecting on research collaborations between Western scientists and Indigenous ranger groups of New South Wales (Banbai) and the Northern Territory (Yugul Mangi), this paper, firstly, describes the methods we used to explore right-way science around cultural fire management. Secondly, it synthesises key findings of the research projects, including how we addressed the five key requirements of right-way science elicited from the literature. Thirdly, we provide insight on how right-way science can be applied more broadly to enhance Indigenous cultural fire management. We found that increasing opportunities for Indigenous peoples to care for their Country, supported by right-way science, places them in a unique position to contribute to solving some of the ongoing challenges and research questions associated with fire management. Western scientists have an important role to play, as supporters and followers of Indigenous research partners, and advocates of right-way science.
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