How wide, how much? A framework for quantifying the economic and ecological outcomes of altering riparian width on agricultural land

Abstract

Creating and managing riparian buffer zones (RBZs) is regarded as a global best-practice management strategy for maintaining and improving waterway health. Agricultural land often utilises RBZs as highly productive pasture, exposing waterways to increased inputs of nutrients, pollutants, and sediment, in addition to reducing carbon sequestration and habitat for native flora and fauna. This project developed a novel approach to the application of multisystem ecological and economic quantification models to the property-scale, at low cost and high speed. We developed a state-of-the-art dynamic geospatial interface to communicate these outputs when switching from pasture to revegetated riparian zone via planned restoration efforts. The tool was developed using the regional conditions of a south-east Australian catchment as a case study but is designed to be adaptable around globally using equivalent model inputs. Ecological and economic outcomes were determined using existing methods, including an agricultural land suitability analysis to quantify primary production, an estimation of carbon sequestration using historic vegetation datasets and GIS software analysis to determine spatial costings of revegetation and fencing. Economic outcomes are presented in raw values of pasture produced and carbon sequestered, and fencing and revegetation costs can be easily altered for enhanced usability and interoperability. This tool can provide property-specific data for almost 16,000 properties in a catchment area of over 130,000 km2 and 19,600 km of river length. Our results indicated that current financial incentives for revegetation rarely cover the cost of giving up pasture, but these costs may be compensated by social and ecological outcomes achieved over time. This method provides a novel way of informing alternative management approaches, such as incremental revegetation plans and the selective harvesting of timber from RBZ. The model provides an innovative framework for improved RBZ management and can be used to inform property-specific responses and guide discussion among stakeholders.