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[CULTURE] · Australia · 7 sources

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Indigenous cultural burning could mitigate Australian bushfire cycles

Indigenous cultural burning bushfire management Croajingolong National Park Australian bushfires land use change

A study by the University of Melbourne suggests that restoring Indigenous cultural burning practices could help break a 'catastrophic fire loop' currently affecting southeast Australia.

Researchers reconstructed a millennium of environmental data in Victoria's Croajingolong National Park. The findings indicate that while climate change drives fire weather, the current crisis is heavily linked to colonial land use. Before colonization, Aboriginal communities, such as the Gunaikurnai, maintained open landscapes through regular, low-intensity controlled burns.

The study posits that the removal of Aboriginal people and the cessation of these burning practices allowed forests to thicken and accumulate excessive fuel. This transformation has created a cycle where hotter fires trigger increased vegetation growth, which in turn provides more fuel for subsequent intense fires. This cycle, described as a 'catastrophic fire loop,' was a significant factor in the 2019/20 Black Summer fires, which burned over 1.5 million hectares in Victoria.

Entities

Croajingolong National Park · East Gippsland · Gunaikurnai · Michael-Shawn Fletcher · University of Melbourne

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Sources

Indigenous cultural burning could break catastrophic bushfire cycle, study finds [www.dubbophotonews.com.au]
Climate change not the only blame for bushfire crisis [firstnationsnews.com.au]
Indigenous cultural burning could break catastrophic bushfire cycle, study finds [www.orangecitylife.com.au]
En Australie, la colonisation aurait contribué à l’augmentation des feux de forêt extrêmes [trustmyscience.com]
🔥 Feux en Australie : ce que la disparition des brûlages autochtones a changé [www.notre-planete.info]
Climate change not the only blame for bushfire crisis [thenightly.com.au]
Climate change not the only blame for bushfire crisis [wattsupwiththat.com]