Case Study
Aboriginal Fire Hunting
Hunting and species repopulation
Partners Involved: Aboriginal hunters
Type of Partnership: Indigenous
Partnership Models: Nourisher, Regenerator
Aboriginal hunters use fire to clear land and improve the search for game, while consequently promoting regrowth, habitat enhancement and species repopulation.
For tens of thousands of years, the Aboriginal people of Australia lived in a deeply symbiotic relationship with nature. In what may seem counterintuitive, a recent study revealed how Aboriginal hunters use a particular method to increase the populations of the animals they hunt.
The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provided insights into how the Aboriginals use fire as a hunting method to clear areas of land and improve the search for game.
This promotes regrowth that enhances the habitat, leading to an increase in the numbers of animals that are being hunted. For example, the populations of monitor lizards nearly double in areas where they are heavily hunted. Where there are no hunters, fires sparked by lightning storms spread over huge distances, landscapes are more homogenous, and monitor lizards are rarer.
SDGs Targeted: SDG 2 on Zero Hunger, SDG 15 on Life on Land
Links & Sources:
Case Study
Aboriginal Fire Hunting
Hunting and species repopulation
Partners Involved: Aboriginal hunters
Type of Partnership: Indigenous
Partnership Models: Nourisher, Regenerator
Aboriginal hunters use fire to clear land and improve the search for game, while consequently promoting regrowth, habitat enhancement and species repopulation.
For tens of thousands of years, the Aboriginal people of Australia lived in a deeply symbiotic relationship with nature. In what may seem counterintuitive, a recent study revealed how Aboriginal hunters use a particular method to increase the populations of the animals they hunt.
The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provided insights into how the Aboriginals use fire as a hunting method to clear areas of land and improve the search for game.
This promotes regrowth that enhances the habitat, leading to an increase in the numbers of animals that are being hunted. For example, the populations of monitor lizards nearly double in areas where they are heavily hunted. Where there are no hunters, fires sparked by lightning storms spread over huge distances, landscapes are more homogenous, and monitor lizards are rarer.
SDGs Targeted: SDG 2 on Zero Hunger, SDG 15 on Life on Land
Links & Sources: