Grassroots community carbon farming project restoring Great Southern landscape

Great Southern farmers are doing their part to move towards a net zero future and grow biodiversity in the region through a grassroots carbon farming project to restore underused land.

The Community, Carbon and Conservation Project aims to support farmers to diversify their income through the sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units by reviving marginal land with the planting of native species to help conserve critical biodiversity.

Cranbrook’s Gillamii Centre, North Stirlings Pallinup Natural Resources and Threshold Environmental are heading up the three-year project backed by $226,980 in State Government funding.

The local initiative follows a commitment from Prime Minister Scott Morrison for Australia to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and a pledge from Meat and Livestock Australia to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Project manager Freya Spencer said the exciting project focused on carbon sequestration — the process of storing carbon dioxide — through the large-scale planting of native seedlings.

Targeting the Kent-Frankland and North Stirlings-Pallinup sub-regions, the project focuses on restoring the landscape home to ancient river systems and nationally recognised wetlands, which are experiencing rapid environmental decline.

Six properties from Cranbrook, Tambellup, Borden and Wellstead have been involved in the first stage of the project.

“Working with a group of progressive farmers, the project is currently under way restoring 550ha of marginal land through biodiverse carbon plantings with ecological restoration leader, Threshold Environmental,” she said.

“Marginal land is land that traditionally has little or no agricultural value, however with projects such as this one, marginal land can now offer farmers a new financial opportunity through diversified income, while also addressing on-farm environmental and production issues such as salinity, wind erosion and soil health.”

Plans to restore an additional 500ha of land will be developed in the remaining two years of the project and 55km of protective fencing will be installed to protect the land from grazing livestock.

Ms Spencer said the first year of the project had demonstrated the opportunities and complexities surrounding community-led carbon farming.

“Each farmer has a different motivation, succession plan and piece in the landscape, which cannot be overlooked and needs careful consideration,” she said.

“The project has also highlighted the need for increased industry education and awareness in regional communities.

“Competition among carbon service providers is strong, which means landholders have a range of options available to consider.

“Understanding the drivers of demand, limitations on supply and the associated risk is as important when making carbon farming decisions as it is within grain and livestock markets.”