Carbon farming via assisted natural regeneration as a cost-effective mechanism for restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Assisted natural regeneration Managed regrowth Environmental plantings Agricultural landscapes Biodiversity conservation Co-benefits a b s t r a c tCarbon farming in agricultural landscapes may provide a cost-effective mechanism for offsetting carbon emissions while delivering co-benefits for biodiversity through ecosystem restoration. Reforestation of landscapes using native tree and shrub species, termed environmental plantings, has been recognized as a carbon offset methodology which can contribute to biodiversity conservation as well as climate mitigation. However, far less attention has been paid to the potential for assisted natural regeneration in areas of low to intermediate levels of degradation, where regenerative capacity still remains and little intervention would be required to restore native vegetation. In this study, we considered the economics of carbon farming in the state of Queensland, Australia, where 30.6 million hectares of relatively recently deforested agricultural landscapes may be suitable for carbon farming. Using spatially explicit estimates of the rate of carbon sequestration and the opportunity cost of agricultural production, we used a discounted cash flow analysis to examine the economic viability of assisted natural regeneration relative to environmental plantings. We found that the average minimum carbon price required to make assisted natural regeneration viable was 60% lower than what was required to make environmental plantings viable ($65.8 t CO 2 e À1 compared to $108.8 t CO 2 e À1 ). Assisted natural regeneration could sequester 1.6 to 2.2 times the amount of carbon possible compared to environmental plantings alone over a range of hypothetical carbon prices and assuming a moderate 5% discount rate. Using a combination of methodologies, carbon farming was a viable land use in over 2.3% of our study extent with a low $5 t CO 2 e À1 carbon price, and up to 10.5 million hectares (34%) with a carbon price of $50 t CO 2 e À1 . Carbon sequestration supply and economic returns generated by assisted natural regeneration were relatively robust to variation in establishment costs and discount rates due to the utilization of low-cost

Land use mapping error introduces strongly-localised, scale-dependent uncertainty into land use and ecosystem services modelling

“…7 and S6). This region has higher rates of carbon sequestration, easily outcompeting extensive beef grazing over large areas (Evans et al, 2015). Land use in this area is also fairly homogeneous which leaves very little scope for land use mapping error.…”

Shifting cultivation in the upland secondary forests of the Philippines: biodiversity and carbon stock assessment, and ecosystem services trade-offs in land-use decisions

“…Moreover, the costs and labour involved in plantation establishment and management are also prerequisites for the long term success and continuation of these projects (Gregorio et al, 2015). Our findings are consistent with the findings of Evans et al (2015) and Gilroy et al (2014) that show the high potential of post-agricultural forest regeneration for providing biodiversity and carbon co-benefits. We also find that, natural regeneration of shifting cultivation fallows is a highly cost effective restoration measure when considering the costs of plantation establishment and management in degraded landscapes in the area.…”

“…Mg), although in recent years there has been a decline in that price (US$3.8 per tonne in 2014) mainly due to fail in legislation to ratify another phase of the Kyoto Protocol (Hamrick, 2015;Peters-Stanley and Yin, 2013). The prospect of inclusion of regenerating secondary forests in emerging global carbon markets, however largely depends on the reliable estimates of carbon together with biodiversity benefits of a particular land-use (Evans et al, 2015;Law et al, 2015;Maron et al, 2013). Globally policy makers recently collectively committed to the Bonn Challenge, an initiative to restore 150 million hectares of degraded forests by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030 .…”

Landscape scale regeneration fuelled by emissions reduction

“…; Evans et al . ). Currently no proposed abatement policy exists beyond the ERF, which will almost certainly be expended by the close of 2016.…”