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.
References
[1]
Chhatre A, Agrawal A (2009) Trade-offs and synergies between carbon storage and livelihood benefits from forest commons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 17667–17670. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0905308106
[2]
Climate Commission (2013) The Critical Decade: Global Action Building On Climate Change. Independent report to the Australian Government.
[3]
Grainger A, Boucher DH, Frumhoff PC, Laurance WF, Lovejoy T, et al. (2009) Biodiversity and REDD at Copenhagen. Current Biology 19: R974–R976. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.001
[4]
Russell-Smith J, Murphy BP, Meyer CP, Cook GD, Maier S, et al. (2009) Improving estimates of savanna burning emissions for greenhouse accounting in northern Australia: limitations, challenges, applications. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18: 1–18. doi: 10.1071/wf08009
[5]
Parker C, Trivedi M, Mardas N, Mitchell A (2008) The little REDD+ book. Global Canopy Program. Oxford, UK.
[6]
Fisher B, Turner RK, Morling P (2009) Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making. Ecological Economics 68: 643–653. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.09.014
[7]
Putz FE, Redford KH (2009) Dangers of carbon-based conservation. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions 19: 400–401. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.07.005
[8]
Lindenmayer DB, Hulvey KB, Hobbs RJ, Colyvan M, Felton A, et al. (2012) Avoiding bio-perversity from carbon sequestration solutions. Conservation Letters 5: 28–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-263x.2011.00213.x
[9]
Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) (2012) Carbon Farming Initiative Handbook. Available at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/governme？nt/initiatives/carbon-farming-initiative？/~/media/government/initiatives/cfi/hand？book/CFI-Handbook-20120403-PDF.pdf. Last accessed 18/7/2012.
[10]
NICC (2011) Summary of National Indigenous Climate Change Opportunities Forum, Alice Springs, March 2011.
[11]
Whitehead P, Purdon P, Russell-Smith J, Cooke G, Sutton S (2009) The West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project: the institutional environment and its implications In: Russell-Smith J, Whitehead P, Cooke G, editors. Culture, Ecology and Economy of Fire Management in North Australian Savannas: Rekindling the Wurrk Tradition, pp 287–312: CSIRO Publishing, Australia.
[12]
Robinson CJ, Gerrard E, May T, Maclean K (2014) Australia's Indigenous carbon economy: A national snapshot. Geographical Research DOI: 10.1111/1745-5871.12049.
[13]
Dohan R, Voora V (2010) First Nations Carbon Collaborative - Indigenous People and Carbon Markets: An annotated bibliography. International Institute for Sustainable Development. Avaliable at: http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2011/fncc_biblio？graphy.pdf. Last accessed 8/11/2013.
[14]
Hulvey KB, Hobbs RJ, Standish RJ, Lindenmayer DB, Lach L, et al. (2013) Benefits of tree mixes in carbon plantings. Nature Climate Change 3: 869–874. doi: 10.1038/nclimate1862
[15]
DCCEE (2012) CFI Methodology: Environmental Planting of Native Species. Available at:http://wwwclimatechangegovau/sites/clima？techange/files/documents/01_2014/environ？mental-plantings-of-native-trees-9jan201？4.pdf. Last accessed 6/5/2013.
[16]
Polglase P, Reeson A, Hawkins C, Paul K, Siggins A, et al. (2013) Potential for forest carbon plantings to offset greenhouse emissions in Australia: economics and constraints to implementation. Climate Change 121: 161–175. doi: 10.1007/s10584-013-0882-5
[17]
Ball IR, Possingham HP, Watts M (2009) Marxan and relatives: Software for spatial conservation prioritisation. In: Moilanen A, Wilson KA, Possingham HP, editors. Spatial conservation prioritisation: Quantitative methods and computational tools: Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. pp. 185–195.
[18]
Robinson CJ, Wallington T, Gerrard E, Griggs D, Walker D, et al.. (2011) Draft Indigenous co-benefit criteria and requirements to inform the development of Australia's Carbon Farming Initiative. A report for the Australia's Rural Industry Research Development Corporation and Australian Government Department of Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, People and Communities, Canberra, Australia.
[19]
Goldtooth T (2010) Carbon Markets Violate Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Threaten Cultural Survival. Indigenous Environmental Network via the REDD-Monitor Website. Available at: http://www.redd-monitor.org/2010/01/15/r？edd-and-violence-against-indigenous-lead？er-in-papua-new-guinea/. Last accessed: 12th August 2013.
[20]
Gerrard E (2012) Towards a Carbon Constrained Future: Climate Change, Emissions Trading and Indigenous Peoples' Rights in Australia In: Weir J, editor. Country, native title and ecology: ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated.
[21]
Peters-Stanley M, Hamilton K, Marcello T, Sjardin M (2012) Developing Dimension - State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2012. Ecosystem Marketplace & Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
[22]
Robinson CJ, Gerrard E, Wallington T, Griggs D (2013) The NICC opportunities roadmap: A decision-support framework to assess Indigenous climate change opportunities in Australia.: Report to RIRDC. CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, Brisbane.
