To Help Australia, Look to Aboriginal Fire Management

Since September 2019, Australia has been ravaged by bushfires. You know the statistics: about 18 million acres burned, around 2,000 homes destroyed, and nearly 1 billion animals affected. The fires have also affected Aboriginal communities and lands.

A firefighter sprays foam retardant on a back burn ahead of
a fire front in the New South Wales town of Jerrawangala on Jan. 1, 2020. 

On January 3, the small Aboriginal community of Mogo, New South Wales, was destroyed, including the homes of five members of the local Aboriginal Land Council and the Land Council building. In Victoria, the Aboriginal community of Lake Tyer has been on high alert, as the East Gippsland bushfires burn just 20 kilometers away. Indigenous Protected Areas—reserved areas of land managed by local Indigenous people—have been devastated as well. Russell Irving, project coordinator at the Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area in New South Wales, noted in a November statement that, “We and many of our small-scale farmer neighbours are at threat of becoming members of the rapidly growing number of climate refugees in our own country.”

Historically, bushfires in Australia were a lot less common than they are today. Climate change is partially to blame. Temperatures have risen dramatically in Australia over the last century, causing more extreme droughts and unpredictable fire seasons. But the ongoing impacts of colonialism—including poor land management—is also part of the puzzle. For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians managed their environment through controlled burns. These fires continue to shape Australia’s landscape. In the Central Arnhem region in northern Australia, for example, a study found kangaroos were more abundant in areas that had been burned by Aboriginal people, because the grass in burned areas was more nitrogen-rich than grass in non-burned areas.

Read the story from Yes! magazine by Abaki Beck - “To Help Australia, Look to Aboriginal Fire Management.”

Stanthorpe farmers go to incredible lengths to weather horror season of fires, drought

In September, catastrophic bush fires ravaged properties in the Granite Belt, Queensland's cool climate country. 

A combination of bushfires and crippling drought
 has put Stanthorpe producers in a desperate position.

It was an emotional hit in an area where farmers are battling drought and the town of Stanthorpe is in the grip of a critical water shortage.

"There's no doubt that there are some landowners, because of the drought and then the bushfire, that probably won't continue in their primary production businesses," Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Tracy Dobie said.

"It has had a devastating effect on those people."

Read the ABC News story by Courtney Wilson - “Stanthorpe farmers go to incredible lengths to weather horror season of fires, drought.”

Amazon rainforest fires: global leaders urged to divert Brazil from 'suicide' path

International pressure may be the only way to stop the Brazilian government from taking a “suicide” path in the Amazon, one of the country’s most respected scientists has said, as the world’s biggest rainforest continues to be ravaged by thousands of deliberate fires.

A raging fire in Tocantins state - it was Swedish
teenager, Greta Thunberg who said "Our house is
on fire" and no one believed her, maybe they will now.

The large number of conflagrations – set illegally to clear and prepare land for crops, cattle and property speculation – has prompted the state of Amazonas to declare an emergency, created giant smoke clouds that have drifted hundreds of miles, and sparked international concerns about the destruction of an essential carbon sink.

“Our house is burning,” tweeted the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who called for emergency talks on the subject at this week’s G7 summit. But the response to the crisis has been mixed: while Norway and Germany have halted donations to the Brazilian government’s Amazon fund, the EU has recently signed a trade deal with South America, and the UK spent this week focusing on post-Brexit business with Brazil.

Read the story from The Guardian by Jonathon Watts - “Amazon rainforest fires: global leaders urged to divert Brazil from 'suicide' path.”

Capturing Somalia’s Climate Calamity

Photographer Nichole Sobecki, along with writer Laura Heaton, spent years documenting parts of Somalia, a country traumatized by over 25 years of conflict and ravaged by climate change.

 As Sobecki put it, “In a generation, parts of Somalia went from being semi-arid to desert, fueling conflict and pushing one of the world’s most resilient communities to the brink.”

Read and take a  look at - “Capturing Somalia’s Climate Calamity.”

Somaliland ravaged by crippling drought, with families left without food or income

The self-declared state of Somaliland is ravaged by one of the worst droughts on record.

AWD and cholera have claimed the lives of
 some 730 people across Somalia in 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of cattle have died, leaving families without income or food. More than 3.2 million people across Somaliland and Somalia need urgent food aid.

The drought has led to outbreaks of deadly diseases, such as cholera and Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD).

Hundreds of thousands of children are also suffering from malnutrition.

Read the ABC News story by Sally Sara - “Somaliland ravaged by crippling drought, with families left without food or income."