Carbon methods for native forests must be ‘nature positive’

Carbon methods for native forests must be ‘nature positive’

Friday 1 Nov 2024

Forestry Australia is calling on the Australian Government to ensure that new ACCU Scheme carbon methods, developed for managing native forests, are truly ‘nature positive’, of high integrity and robustness, and will support the long-term health and resilience of our native forests and communities.

Acting President, Dr Bill Jackson said Forestry Australia acknowledges the Australian Government has this week announced a short list of new carbon methods for the ACCU Scheme. “Forestry Australia submitted a strong carbon method proposal for consideration under the Proponent-Led Method Development Process for the ACCU Scheme.

“At this stage, the Forestry Australia-led proposal has not been prioritised; however, we are very encouraged by the advice from the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee that our proposal has excellent alignment with the Offsets Integrity Standards and triage criteria and supported it for development, if or when departmental resources permit,” Dr Jackson said.

“Forestry Australia remains fully supportive of its proposed new carbon method and is looking forward to engaging with the Australian Government to progress its further development in the near future. Forestry Australia calls on the Australian Government to commit more resources to the ACCU Scheme and its proponent-led method development process.”

The proposed method, Enhancing Native Forest Resilience, is focussed on improving the health and resilience of native forests and encouraging active, adaptive management of native forests across all land tenures to assist Australia in meeting its Paris Agreement targets.

“Our proposed method is also based on enabling broader participation in the carbon market, which could include State forest management agencies and national parks managers as well as community groups, not-for-profits, private native forest landowners, and First Peoples," Dr Jackson said.

Forestry Australia’s method is based on a growing body of published work that shows forests that are actively managed can have greater carbon sequestration and storage potential. The proposal encompasses restorative forestry practices and active forest management focused on improving habitat values, carbon stocks and resilience to droughts and wildfires.

Source: Forestry Australia

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