A new project to support graziers is set to receive $735,000 as part of the Palaszczuk Government’s flagship $500 million Land Restoration Fund.
Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef Leeanne Enoch said that the Bush Heritage Australia ‘Active landscape management’ pilot project is one of six carbon farming projects to be funded under the $4 million Catalysing Action Grants program.
“Carbon farming is an emerging industry that has real opportunity to create new jobs and revenue for regional communities,” Minister Enoch said.
“This project will assess how a range of land management techniques can affect the amount of carbon that’s captured from the atmosphere and stored.
“This is a big project that will be carried out on a number of properties in central south-west Queensland, with pilot sites located in the Brigalow Belt, Mulga Lands and Mitchell Grass Downs regions, covering around two million hectares.
“The intention is that this pilot project will lead to a carbon farming methodology that can be applied on a wider scale across similar parts of Queensland and similar landscapes across Australia.
“These grants provide funding to support ‘on-ground’ projects that demonstrate the delivery of carbon farming activities alongside measurable environmental, social and economic co-benefits.
“We want to see more graziers participating in carbon farming. The Land Restoration Fund is a great opportunity for them to generate an income from carbon farming,” she said.
Bush Heritage Australia Chief Executive Officer Heather Campbell said this grant funding will be a catalyst for further development of Queensland-based carbon farming projects.
“This ground-breaking project, in collaboration with Climate Friendly and CSIRO, tackles a large-scale environmental issue: how to better farm and monitor carbon, while improving land and increasing participation with both graziers and Traditional Custodians.
“We also want to increase landscape resilience to drought and climate change, which will benefit the people, animals and plants living on the land.
It’s a huge opportunity to improve the health of the land, with a scalable and innovative partnership model that could see significant benefits right across Australia.”
Other projects funded as part of this program include wetland restoration near Innisfail, rainforest restoration on the Atherton Tablelands and new carbon farming methods.
The Land Restoration Fund is one of the strong initiatives the Palaszczuk Government has put in place to begin to reduce emissions, address climate change and open up new revenue for land holders.
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