Wet Tropics rainforest restoration project secures CO2 Australia’s fourth Environmental Account under the Accounting for Nature® Framework

Wet Tropics rainforest restoration project secures CO2 Australia’s fourth Environmental Account under the Accounting for Nature® Framework

CO2 Australia is proud to announce the certification of our fourth Environmental Account under the Accounting for Nature® Framework; the Saltwater Creek Carbon Project.

CO2 Australia achieved certification of Australia’s first Environmental Account by Accounting for Nature (AfN) in September 2021, with subsequent accounts certified in December 2022 and October 2023.

The Saltwater Creek Carbon project is a 25-year, $3.74 million collaboration between the Queensland Government and CO2 Australia in the Wet Tropics Bioregion of north Queensland. The project will re-establish approximately 55 hectares of tropical rainforest and eucalypt forest communities endemic to the region, incorporating 55 rainforest species into the plantings, which will result in improved connectivity between the property and the Mossman Gorge section of the Daintree National Park; part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. With confirmed threatened species records immediately adjacent the project such as southern cassowary, spot-tailed quoll, common mistfrog and tapping green-eyed frog, the project will also restore habitat and facilitate dispersal of these species across the broader landscape.

Accounting for Nature® accredited asset experts and CO2 Australia ecologists Dr Cath Bowler and Dr Jarrad Cousin completed all the necessary fieldwork and reporting to support the Environmental Account. This was undertaken using CO2 Australia’s own AfN-accredited Native Vegetation Econd® method. Following a rigorous independent audit, the Environmental Account was certified by AfN in September 2024.

If you would like any assistance with establishing an Environmental Account under the Accounting for Nature® Framework, whether it be for a carbon planting project, grazing enterprise or to track the condition of a natural area estate, please feel free to contact CO2 Australia and we will help you on the path to accounting for nature.

 

 

Carbon Estate Project – Murrin Bridge Local Aboriginal Land Council

Carbon Estate Project – Murrin Bridge Local Aboriginal Land Council

Carbon Estate Project – Murrin Bridge Local Aboriginal Land Council

In one of the first projects of its kind, CO2 Australia worked with the New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Local Land Council to revegetate 220 hectares of degraded land as part of a forest carbon project now returning revenues back to the Traditional Owners of the project land.

The project is located near the Murrin Bridge Aboriginal community, 320 kilometres south of Dubbo, NSW. Most of the Indigenous people at Murrin Bridge can trace their roots back to the Ngiyampaa and Barkindji tribes and the community is seen as a ‘Koori place’ rather than that of one particular tribal group. CO2 Australia employs Traditional Owners in the project monitoring for this and data collection for other projects in regional NSW.

Client
NSW Aboriginal Land Council

Location
Murrin Bridge, Lake Cargelligo, NSW

Dates
2010 – 2035

Industry
Carbon, Aboriginal Land Council

Services
Project registration, management, tree measurement, reporting, land management

Key benefits

Employment and revenue generation for Traditional Owners

220 ha of degraded land revegetated to forest

25 years of land management and conservation

More projects

Wilga Park Project: CO2 Australia’s third Environmental Account certified

Wilga Park Project: CO2 Australia’s third Environmental Account certified

CO2 Australia’s Accounting for Nature® portfolio now boasts three ‘certified by independent audit’ Environmental Accounts with the official certification of the Restoring box-gum grassy woodland for threatened species of the Nandewar Bioregion (Wilga Park) Project on the 17th October 2023.  

Like our first two certified Environmental Accounts, this account is third-party verified with a Level 1 (Very High Confidence) assurance, and an Econd® accuracy of 95% for native vegetation (an Econd® score is an index that describes the environmental condition of an asset). Find out more about the Accounting for Nature® Framework here. 

The Wilga Park Project is a 25-year, $1.96 million collaboration between the Queensland Government and CO2 Australia to deliver ~110 hectares of degraded land restored to a natural functioning ecosystem. Its purpose is to re-establish vegetation communities consistent with White Box – Yellow Box – Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland; a critically endangered Threatened Ecological Community under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This will help connect extensive areas of remnant vegetation as well as reinstate and improve habitat for numerous threatened species of the Nandewar Bioregion including many already confirmed from the property such as squatter pigeon (Geophaps scripta scripta), painted honeyeater (Grantiella picta), hooded robin (Melanodryas cucullata) and spot-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus). 

The baseline condition of native vegetation within the project area was assessed in October and December 2022 and found to have an Econd® score of 33.1 (out of 100). This Econd® was calculated using CO2 Australia’s Native Vegetation Econd® Method; a sophisticated methodology developed by our own Dr Jarrad Cousin and certified by Accounting for Nature Ltd in 2020. Further opportunities to improve biodiversity co-benefits will continue to be explored for the life of the project, based on the outcomes of Econd® assessments. CO2 Australia will continue to undertake quarterly bird surveys throughout the property, including the environmental accounting area; continuing a 10-year commitment to monitor the efficacy of the revegetation efforts across the property.