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Carbon Trading for Small-Scale Farmers

- is it just a mirage?

By Alison Specht

The New England, Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast and Lower Hunter Regional Plantation Committees, Northpower, and Southern Cross University jointly received project funding in 1999 under the Greenhouse Allies Program of the Australian Greenhouse Office to:

build capacity among the private commercial tree growers in northern New South Wales to measure the sequestration of greenhouse gases by their plantations;
raise awareness of the importance of expanding private plantation forestry activities in greenhouse mitigation strategies;
form linkages to ensure appropriate support is provided to growers to develop their carbon mensuration capacity; and
field trial the newly-developed Greenhouse Challenge Vegetation Sinks Workbook (VSW) (Forestry Technical Services, AACM International & Clean Commodities Inc. for the Australian Greenhouse Office 1998).

This was achieved by:

measuring a broad range of plantations;
complete biomass harvesting of six species;
comparing modelled and measured carbon figures;
monitoring the level of accuracy, precision and time taken for the various measurement techniques;
liaising with small landowners and farmers; and
consulting with expert advisors and reviewing the literature.

The study was the first use of the VSW in Australia since its release late in 1998, and has provided an opportunity for refinement. The resulting data on carbon sequestration will be useful for the National Carbon Accounting System, and, perhaps, carbon credit trading by forest owners, subject to the further development of the Kyoto protocol and domestic policies.

The procedures described in the VSW provided a very conservative estimate of the amount of carbon stored in the trees. Using this method, the amount of carbon stored in the trees ranged from around 17 tonnes per hectare in 9 year-old plantings to 1 tonne per hectare in 2 year-old plantings. The average rate of fixation of carbon dioxide between 1998 and 1999 in the plantings greater than 5 years old was around 47 tonnes per hectare. Precise estimation of the amount of carbon held depended greatly on accurate estimates of the actual area of the planting, and was poorest for plantings less than 2 years of age. The potential for error in mixed species plantings appears higher than in monocultures, but this can be improved by further refining the measurement protocols.

We are about to start on a second project which is directed at addressing some of the gaps highlighted in this first project and incorporating some of the wider questions, such as economics. This second project will culminate with a conference in late 2000 entitled 'Northern New South Wales ready for Carbon Trading' and will bring together many of the key players in the carbon trading game to the north coast. So, is it a mirage? Only time, and bigger players than us will tell.

Alison Specht

Many thanks to staff Byron Yeo, Bevan McBeth, to the three Regional Development Boards, but particularly to John Macgregor-Skinner of the Northern Rivers Regional Development Board, to Northpower, to the 24 Allies and to many students. A little corner of Australia will be forever Laotian!

This article previously published in SCU Forestry News No.1

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