Isometric has released a draft protocol for Savanna Fire Management (SFM) for public consultation. The protocol outlines requirements and procedures for projects that shift savanna burning from the late to the early dry season, reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions from fires and increasing the amount of carbon captured and stored by trees and woody shrubs.
Managing savanna fires
Every year, wildfires, agricultural burning, and planned fires burn ~7.7 million square kilometers of land worldwide. Tropical savannas account for about 70% of that area and release ~749 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere.
Most savanna fires happen late in the dry season, when grass and leaf litter have dried out. Combined with high temperatures and strong winds, this produces intense, fast-spreading fires that burn large areas and kill trees. By contrast, controlled fires set earlier in the season burn cooler, more patchily, and less destructively, due to milder conditions and the landscape holding more moisture.
SFM projects set earlier, controlled burns to leave firebreaks that reduce the dry material available to fires later in the season. This results in a smaller, less intense fire season and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier burns also increase the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere, as trees and woody shrubs are less likely to be killed by severe fires and face less competition from grasses.
The use of SFM across northern Australia’s savannas turned them from emitters of 19 million tonnes of CO2e per year to a net sink of 3.5 million tonnes. SFM can also provide employment for local and Indigenous communities and support traditional fire management practices. It also reduces damage from accidental uncontrolled late-season fires to habitats, people, and property, and supports the mix of burned and unburned land that fire-sensitive savanna species rely on.
The Savanna Fire Management Protocol
The SFM Protocol sets out how removals and reductions from SFM projects are measured, certified, and monitored. It requires projects to use a combination of remote sensing, field measurements, dynamic baselines, and default factors from scientific literature to ensure reduced emissions are accurately quantified. Projects can use any of Isometric's quantification modules to quantify the carbon they remove.
Fire behavior varies annually, which can distort how effective a project appears. Isometric addresses this by comparing each project against a wider surrounding area, called a Donor Zone, to see whether a given year was unusually active or quiet, and then adjusts the project's baseline accordingly. This means certificates accurately reflect project impact, not variable levels of fire activity. Isometric’s SFM Protocol is unique because it applies dynamic adjustments to both reduction and removal certificates issued from the same project.
Fuel loads and fire emissions also vary by region. This protocol only covers regions studied in enough detail to ensure accurate quantification, including the miombo woodlands of southern Africa and the savannas of northern Australia. Additional regions, such as Brazil's cerrado, will become eligible as emission factors are published and reviewed by the scientific community.
Projects must meet rigorous safeguards for people and wildlife, which are minimum conditions for eligibility. Projects must obtain Free, Prior and Informed Consent where Indigenous Peoples or customary land users are affected, employ and resource local and Indigenous communities, and build on existing customary fire institutions rather than replacing them. They must also publish how revenue is shared and monitor to ensure fires aren’t pushed beyond the project boundary.
Certifying removals and reductions
SFM projects can generate two types of carbon certificates:
- Reductions include methane and nitrous oxide that are prevented from reaching the atmosphere. A project can continue to generate reduction certificates for as long as it maintains its fire management practices.
- Removals include carbon dioxide that trees and woody shrubs capture and store as they grow. This carbon must be monitored for loss over time. Projects are only eligible for removal certificates if they demonstrate measurable tree growth.
All SFM projects contribute to a shared buffer pool, which covers reversed removals and any shortfall in years when fire emissions exceeded the baseline.
The SFM Protocol was developed through collaboration between Isometric's Science Team and reviewers from the independent Science Network of more than 400 academic experts.
Isometric welcomes comments during the 30-day public consultation period ending on August 31.
