Indigenous cultural burning managed Australia’s bushfires long before colonisation. It’s needed now more than ever, a study says

As wildfires become more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis, combining the First Nations practice with western techniques is ‘crucial’

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Indigenous cultural burning practices halved the shrub cover across south-east Australia thousands of years before colonisation, reducing the intensity of bushfires, new research suggests.

The study’s authors argue that “wide-scale re-integration” of cultural burning practices, in combination with western fire management techniques, is “crucial” at a time when wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis.

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