Biodiverse Planting for Carbon and Biodiversity on Indigenous Land

Anna R Renwick,Hugh P Possingham,Phil Polglase,Tara G Martin,Josie Carwardine,Tracey May,Catherine J Robinson,Julian Clifton

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091281

Abstract

Carbon offset mechanisms have been established to mitigate climate change through changes in land management. Regulatory frameworks enable landowners and managers to generate saleable carbon credits on domestic and international markets. Identifying and managing the associated co-benefits and dis-benefits involved in the adoption of carbon offset projects is important for the projects to contribute to the broader goal of sustainable development and the provision of benefits to the local communities. So far it has been unclear how Indigenous communities can benefit from such initiatives. We provide a spatial analysis of the carbon and biodiversity potential of one offset method, planting biodiverse native vegetation, on Indigenous land across Australia. We discover significant potential for opportunities for Indigenous communities to achieve carbon sequestration and biodiversity goals through biodiverse plantings, largely in southern and eastern Australia, but the economic feasibility of these projects depend on carbon market assumptions. Our national scale cost-effectiveness analysis is critical to enable Indigenous communities to maximise the benefits available to them through participation in carbon offset schemes.

Highlights

Climate change has focused global attention on the need to develop sustainable management responses that reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere while providing multiple benefits at local and global scales [1]
The nature of Indigenous carbon rights varies in time and space across Australian jurisdictions there is considerable interest from Indigenous communities in the extent and location of the range of cobenefits
Given that Indigenous land cover 19% of the total biodiversity plantable area, this result indicates that Indigenous lands are approximately as important as the rest of Australia for achieving this combined goal cost-effectively. These results show that carbon offset schemes such as those available through Australia’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) offer a potentially important opportunity to deliver carbon and biodiversity benefits on Indigenous lands

Summary

Introduction

Climate change has focused global attention on the need to develop sustainable management responses that reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere while providing multiple benefits at local and global scales [1]. Carbon pricing mechanisms are operating in 35 countries and 13 sub-national jurisdictions, and a further seven in China are expected to start in 2013 [2] These emission trading schemes have the potential to mitigate global climate change through altered land management practices while providing opportunities for landholders and local communities. Tree planting, avoided deforestation and fire management are some of the many activities that are supported by financial incentive schemes (e.g. Reducing Emissions from forest Degradation and Deforestation (REDD), and its derivative REDD+) [3,4,5] This emerging carbon economy has the potential to cause large-scale changes in land management and trade-offs with other environmental outcomes, such as biodiversity conservation and other ecosystem services that can support community livelihoods and human well-being [6], as land uses that promote high carbon storage become more profitable [7,8]. The nature of Indigenous carbon rights varies in time and space across Australian jurisdictions there is considerable interest from Indigenous communities in the extent and location of the range of cobenefits (direct sustainable development outcomes associated with a carbon offset project that are additional to emissions avoided or carbon stored)

Methods

Results

Conclusion