The bushfires in Australia had just started when I left Sydney for Perth. As such, I did not experience the effects of the fires, but friends were texting me pictures of smoke-filled skies. A few weeks later, when I was already back in Belgium, the fires started to intensify and the news hit me hard. It's truly devastating to see the images of the devestation it causes on the nature, animals and people's livelihood. However, what's not discussed as much are the effects on the Aboriginal community. As Lorena Allam writes in The Guardian, it's also their memories, sacred places and everything that makes Aboriginals who they are that are going up in flames.
Aboriginals traditionally used fire to manage their lands until the Europeans set foot on shore. Displacement and rules and regulations impeded the execution of their traditional ways of taking care of the land. According to some, this was the starting point of massive, uncontrollable bushfires. Although the climate of the 18th century cannot be compared to the current one, it is clear that fire has been a central element in Aboriginal culture and it would surely not be amiss to listen to their in-depth knowledge of the land.
Lighting preventive fires is also frequently done by the Australian government, called 'hazard-reduction burns', however, according to Aboriginals these methods aren't the most effective ones and they lead to an increased presence of fuel loads, which contributes to more intense and uncontrollable fires. To Aboriginals the key is knowledge on when, where and how to burn, which requires being able to read and interpret the land. They hold into account different elements to determine these factors, such as the state of the vegetation, the presence of fuel loads, wind, sun, the different eco-systems, grass, type of soil, which type of ashes will remain etcetera. In contrast to the 'hot burns' used by Australian fire management services, they use 'cool burns'. They happen during the night or early morning as the wind is more quiet and the plants do not yet release inflammable oils. The flames of such a 'cool fire' are lower and less affect crucial elements of the vegetation. This way, they manage to save the canopy of the tree, which is vital for the safety of animals and reduces the release of carbon. The fires are lit in such a way that they form a 360 degree circle so that animals will have the time to escape. Without getting into more details, this method is supposed to lead to a better control over the fires, creates less impact for animals and should assure that the vegetation recovers more rapidly.
It's of course not as simple because the Australian society is not what it used to be and different other elements save a possible mismanagement have contributed to the massive scale of the current bushfires. People are pointing at policy measures of both left and right and then there's the effects of climate change that increase the intensity of the fires. According to Victor Steffensen, an Aboriginal fire practitioner, a change in mentality is also part of the solution. People's fear of fire has to stop because (preventive) fires are absolutely necessary for Australia en they should happen on a more regular basis than is the case today.
As such, we are not talking about the solution, but possibly a part of it, if adjusted to modern Australian society. Different people have already expressed their support for indigenous methods and insights. Some programmes and projects already exist whereby Aboriginals train or teach non-indigenous Australians about their ways of managing and treating land. One example is The Kimerbley Land Council's Indigenous fire management that used both modern science and technology and traditional indigenous knowledge. These programmes are however still limited in numbers, thus the Aboriginal community hopes that the Australian government will now realize that they could also help with a more effective fire management on a larger scale.