IAG renews Aboriginal Carbon Foundation partnership to help strengthen community resilience as bushfire risk increase
General insurer IAG has renewed its partnership with the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation (AbCF) for a further three years, supporting AbCF on its mission to increase awareness and adoption of cultural land management to strengthen community resilience in a changing climate.
Since initially forging the partnership with IAG in 2022, AbCF has expanded its cultural fire service capacity, delivering tangible economic benefits to Indigenous peoples and Traditional Owner groups who undertake the specialised work.
Despite the progress, challenges remain around the integration of cultural land management with mainstream emergency management frameworks, legislative restrictions and insurance solutions.
We are delighted to continue working with the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and look forward to helping advance conversations with industry and government around the community and environmental benefits of cultural burning as a preventative tool in mitigating bushfire risk.
Amy Hogan, IAG Executive Manager Group Sustainability & Climate Action
Cultural burns are burning practices developed by Aboriginal people to enhance the health of the land and its people. Leveraging 65,000 years of ancestral knowledge, cultural burns reduce fire risk and emit less greenhouse gas than other hazard reduction techniques 1 , while maintaining soil and biodiversity health 2 .
Aboriginal Carbon Foundation CEO Rowan Foley said: “We are grateful for the continued support of IAG, and their recognition of cultural land management as an important mitigation tool to care for Country and communities.
“Through deepening understanding of Aboriginal land management practices, we will drive greater uptake and create safer communities. This will also generate community unity, prosperity and wellbeing for First Nations peoples, enabling them to fulfill their aspirations and dreams for community and Country.”
IAG’s recently released Severe Weather in a Changing Climate Report highlights the threat to both natural and built environments is growing faster than climate models had previously projected, with increased bushfire risk to communities and infrastructure at the bushland-urban interface 3 .
The report also found that bushfire weather risks are escalating at a fast pace as climate change drives hotter, drier and more fire-prone conditions. Rising temperatures are leading to more days with extreme weather conditions conducive to uncontrollable bushfires, while shifting rainfall patterns are reducing soil and fuel moisture in some areas, creating continuous, fire-supportive landscapes.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast potential El Niño conditions later this year which may lead to drier conditions in some parts of the country 4 , making this autumn and winter an important time to reduce fire fuel loads.
To find out more about the work of AbCF, please visit: Aboriginal Carbon Foundation - Community Prosperity, Carbon Farming