Expanding Australian carbon credits to native forests
Friday 2 Aug 2024
Forestry Australia is leading an Australian initiative
to expand Australia’s carbon credits across all native forest
tenures, including State forests, private native forests, forests
managed by Traditional Owners, national parks and conservation
reserves. The Forestry Australia ‘Enhancing Native
Forest Resilience’ proposal is a forest-sector-led
submission to the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction
Assurance Committee EOI process for Australian Carbon Credits Units
(ACCU) Scheme methods.
This innovative model is based on a growing body of
published work that shows forests that are actively
managed can have greater carbon potential. Under this
method, active management means deliberate human care of forests through
implementing practices to restore and improve carbon, forest health and
resilience outcomes.
Forestry Australia President, Michelle Freeman,
said there were huge untapped opportunities. “There is a
growing body of published work that shows our forests are not only more
resilient if they are actively managed, but they can deliver greater
carbon abatement benefits,” Dr Freeman said. “Our
proposed new Enhancing Native Forest Resilience method is specifically
focussed on unlocking the carbon potential across all types of native
forests – when they remain forest land.
“This would provide additional revenue streams
for our national parks, state forests and private forests, specifically
to support more investment in ecologically sustainable forest
management, thereby enhancing landscape resilience, biodiversity and
social outcomes from our forests. It would maximise carbon market
opportunities to more landowners, from state government agencies
managing state forests and national parks, as well as community groups,
not-for-profits, private landowners and First Nations Peoples.”
The proposed project activities under Enhancing Native Forest method can
be grouped into three groups:
- Restorative forestry practices: projects that
restore ecological health and carbon through forest restoration and
regenerative forestry practices where forests have been degraded by
wildfires, pests and diseases, or other significant disturbances.
- Adaptive harvesting practices: projects that reduce
carbon emissions and improve carbon storage in forests currently
available for timber harvesting, while allowing for a level of ongoing
supply of wood products, by altering timber harvesting approaches or
resting areas from harvest.
- Improved utilisation of harvested wood products:
projects that improve carbon storage in wood products by shifting the
production of lower grade logs for short-lived wood products into higher
grade logs and long-lived wood products.
Forestry Australia is pleased to have this opportunity to contribute
directly to the further development and growth of the ACCU Scheme in
Australia, and to present a proposal to the Australian Government that
highlights the importance of supporting ecologically sustainable forest
management for all native forests, especially in the face of increasing
threats from wildfires, invasive pest species and other factors
exacerbated by climate change.
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Source & image credit: Forestry Australia
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